[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 245 (Friday, December 20, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70197-70199]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-27442]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Indian Health Service


Request for Public Comment: 60 Day Information Collection: Indian 
Health Service Medical Staff Credentials

AGENCY: Indian Health Service, HHS.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments. Request for revision to a 
collection.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Indian Health Service (IHS) invites the general public to comment on 
the information collection titled, ``Indian

[[Page 70198]]

Health Service Medical Staff Credentials,'' OMB Control Number 0917-
0009, which expires February 29, 2020.

DATES: Comment Due Date: February 18, 2020. Your comments regarding 
this information collection are best assured of having full effect if 
received within 60 days of the date of this publication.

ADDRESSES: Send your written comments, requests for more information on 
the collection, or requests to obtain a copy of the data collection 
instrument and instructions to Juliana Sadovich by one of the following 
methods:
     Mail: Juliana Sadovich, Ph.D., RN, CPHQ, Director, Office 
of Quality, Indian Health Service, 5600 Fishers Lane, Mail Stop: 08N78, 
Rockville, MD 20857.
     Phone: 301-443-4330.
     Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice announces our intent to revise 
the collection already approved by OMB, and to solicit comments on 
specific aspects of the information collection. The purpose of this 
notice is to allow 60 days for public comment to be submitted to IHS. A 
copy of the supporting statement is available at www.regulations.gov 
(see Docket ID IHS-2019-01).
    Information Collection Title: ``Indian Health Service Medical Staff 
Credentials and Privileges Files, 0917-0009.'' Type of Information 
Collection Request: Extension of an approved information collection, 
and revised to, ``Indian Health Service Medical Staff Credentials, 
0917-0009.'' Form Numbers: 0917-0009. Need and Use of Information 
Collection: This collection of information is used to evaluate 
individual health care providers applying for medical staff privileges 
at IHS health care facilities. The IHS operates health care facilities 
that provide health care services to American Indians and Alaska 
Natives. To provide these services, the IHS employs (directly and under 
contract) several categories of health care providers including: 
Physicians (M.D. and D.O.), dentists, psychologists, optometrists, 
podiatrists, audiologists, physician assistants, certified registered 
nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, and certified nurse midwives. 
IHS policy specifically requires physicians and dentists to be members 
of the health care facility medical staff where they practice. Health 
care providers become medical staff members, depending on the local 
health care facility's capabilities and medical staff bylaws. There are 
three types of IHS medical staff applicants: (1) Health care providers 
applying for direct employment with IHS; (2) contractors who will not 
seek to become IHS employees; and (3) employed IHS health care 
providers who seek to transfer between IHS health care facilities.
    National health care standards developed by the Centers for 
Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Joint Commission, and other 
accrediting organizations require health care facilities to review, 
evaluate and verify the credentials, training and experience of medical 
staff applicants prior to granting medical staff privileges. In order 
to meet these standards, IHS health care facilities require all medical 
staff applicants to provide information concerning their education, 
training, licensure, and work experience and any adverse disciplinary 
actions taken against them. This information is then verified with 
references supplied by the applicant and may include: Former employers, 
educational institutions, licensure and certification boards, the 
American Medical Association, the Federation of State Medical Boards, 
the National Practitioner Data Bank, and the applicants themselves.
    In addition to the initial granting of medical staff membership and 
clinical privileges, Joint Commission standards require that a review 
of the medical staff be conducted not less than every two years. This 
review evaluates the current competence of the medical staff and 
verifies whether they are maintaining the licensure or certification 
requirements of their specialty.
    The medical staff credentials and privileges records are maintained 
at the health care facility where the health care provider is a medical 
staff member. The establishment of these records at IHS health care 
facilities is a Joint Commission requirement. Prior to the 
establishment of this Joint Commission requirement, the degree to which 
medical staff applications were maintained at all health care 
facilities in the United States that are verified for completeness and 
accuracy varied greatly across the Nation.
    The application process has been streamlined and is using 
information technology to make the application electronically available 
via the internet. The IHS is transforming credentialing, which include 
granting privileges, into a centrally installed, automated, 
standardized, electronic/digital, measurable, portable, accessible, and 
efficient business process to improve the effectiveness of application 
and re-application to Medical Staffs, movement of practitioners within 
the IHS system, and recruitment/retention of high-quality 
practitioners. The credentialing process no longer requires paper/pdf 
forms for granting privileges. The electronic credentialing system 
incorporates privileges as part of the overall process for 
credentialing, eliminating the need for paper, and allows tailoring the 
needs to site specifications. Privileges will differ across IHS Areas 
and clinics, in compliance with accreditation standards.
    The adoption of a central source IT system for medical practitioner 
staff credentialing/privileging data will enhance the quality, 
accuracy, and efficiency of the IHS credentialing/privileging process, 
which is expected to improve the recruitment and retention rates of 
medical practitioner staff at IHS. Cost savings will be obtained 
through the termination of disparate business processes; reduction of 
paperwork duplication; and eliminating systems that do not provide IHS 
enterprise access to credentialing/privileging information. 
Additionally, communicating information electronically can reduce costs 
and errors, promote collaboration, ensure accreditation/privileging 
requirements are met, and help bring practitioners on board more 
quickly, which will improve recruitment and retention.
    Affected Public: Individuals and households. Type of Respondents: 
Individuals.
    The table below provides: Types of data collection instruments, 
Estimated number of respondents, Number of annual number of responses, 
Average burden per response, and Total annual burden hours.

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                                      Estimated                                                    Total annual
  Data collection instrument(s)       number of     Responses per     Average burden hour per         burden
                                     respondents     respondent              response *              (current)
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Initial Application to Medical                600               1  0.583 (35 min)...............             350
 Staff.
Application Packet/Signature                1,300               1  0.167 (10 min)...............             217
 Documents.
Reappointment Application to                  700               1  0.333 (20 min)...............             233
 Medical Staff.
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    Total........................           2,600  ..............  .............................             800
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* For ease of understanding, burden hours are provided in actual minutes.

    Annual number of respondents were factored based on total IHS 
providers credentialed and privileged on the indicated cycles in the 
paragraphs above. There are no capital costs, operating costs and/or 
maintenance costs to respondents.
    Requests for Comments: Your written comments and/or suggestions are 
invited on one or more of the following points: (a) Whether the 
information collection activity is necessary to carry out an agency 
function; (b) whether the agency processes the information collected in 
a useful and timely fashion; (c) the accuracy of public burden estimate 
(the estimated amount of time needed for individual respondents to 
provide the requested information); (d) whether the methodology and 
assumptions used to determine the estimate is logical; (e) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information being 
collected; and (f) ways to minimize the public burden through the use 
of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.

Chris Buchanan,
 Deputy Director, RADM, Assistant Surgeon General, USPHS, Indian Health 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-27442 Filed 12-19-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4165-16-P