[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 174 (Tuesday, September 8, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55465-55466]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-19776]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for 
Review and Approval; Public Comment Request; Information Collection 
Request Title: Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan 
Repayment Program, OMB No. 0906-xxxx--New

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department 
of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, HRSA 
submitted an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. Comments submitted 
during the first public review of this ICR will be provided to OMB. OMB 
will accept further comments from the public during the review and 
approval period. OMB may act on HRSA's ICR only after the 30 day 
comment period for this notice has closed.

DATES: Comments on this ICR should be received no later than October 8, 
2020.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under Review--Open for 
Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request a copy of the clearance 
requests submitted to OMB for review, email Lisa Wright-Solomon, the 
HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer at [email protected] or 
call (301) 443-1984.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Information Collection Request Title: 
Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program 
OMB No. 0906-xxxx--New
    Abstract: The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 
included no less than $12,000,000 for HRSA to establish the Loan 
Repayment Program for Substance Use Disorder Treatment Workforce. This 
funding will allow HRSA to provide the repayment of education loans for 
individuals working in either a full-time substance use disorder 
treatment job that involves direct patient care in a Health 
Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) designated for Mental Health or a 
county where the average drug overdose death rate exceeds the national 
average.
    Eligible disciplines include but are not limited to behavioral 
health paraprofessionals, occupational therapists and counselors. 
Eligible treatment facilities include but are not limited to inpatient 
psychiatric facilities, recovery centers, detox facilities, emergency 
department and local community jails and detention centers. The 
Department of Health and Human Services agrees to repay the qualifying 
educational loans up to $250,000.00 in return for six years of service 
obligation. The forms utilized by the Substance Use Disorder Treatment 
and Recovery (STAR) Loan Repayment Program (LRP) include the following: 
the STAR LRP Application, the Authorization for Disclosure of Loan 
Information form, the Privacy Act Release Authorization form, the 
Employment Verification form, and the Site Application form, if 
applicable. The aforementioned forms collect information that is needed 
for selecting participants and repaying qualifying educational loans.
    Eligible facilities for the STAR LRP are facilities that provide 
in-patient and outpatient, ambulatory, primary and mental/behavioral 
health care services to populations residing in a mental health HPSA or 
a county where the average drug overdose death rate exceeds the 
national average. The facilities that may provide related in-patient 
services may include, but are not limited to Centers for Medicare & 
Medicaid Services-approved Critical Access Hospitals, American Indian 
Health Facilities (Indian Health Service Facilities, Tribally-Operated 
638 Health Programs, and Urban Indian Health Programs), inpatient 
rehabilitation centers and psychiatric facilities. HRSA will recruit 
facilities for approval. New facilities must submit an application for 
review and approval. The application requests will contain supporting 
information on the clinical service site, recruitment contact and 
services provided. Assistance in completing this application may be 
obtained through the appropriate HRSA personnel. HRSA will use the 
information collected on the applications to determine eligibility of 
the facility for the assignment of health professionals and to verify 
the need for clinicians.

    Note:  Despite the similarity in the titles, the STAR LRP is not 
the existing NHSC Substance Use Disorder LRP (OMB #0915-0127), which 
is authorized under Title III of the Public Health Service Act. The 
STAR LRP is a newly authorized Title VII program that has different 
service requirements, loan repayment protocols, and authorized 
employment facilities.

    A 60-day notice published in the Federal Register on June 4, 2020, 
vol. 85, No. 108; pp. 34454-34456. There were no public comments.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: The need and purpose of 
this information collection is to obtain information that is used to 
assess a STAR LRP applicant's eligibility and qualifications for the 
program, and to obtain information for eligible site applicants. 
Clinicians interested in participating in the STAR LRP must submit an 
application to the program in order to participate, and health care 
facilities located in a high overdose rate or Mental Health HPSAs must 
submit a Site Application to determine the eligibility of sites to 
participate in the STAR LRP. The STAR LRP application asks for 
personal, professional and financial information needed to determine 
the applicant's eligibility to participate in the STAR LRP. In 
addition, applicants must provide information regarding the loans for 
which repayment is being requested.
    Likely Respondents: Likely respondents include: licensed primary 
care medical, mental and behavioral health providers, and other 
paraprofessionals who are employed or seeking employment, and are 
interested in serving underserved populations; health care facilities 
interested in participating in the STAR LRP, and becoming an approved 
service site; STAR LRP sites providing behavioral health care services 
directly, or through a formal affiliation with a comprehensive 
community-based primary behavioral health setting, facility providing 
comprehensive behavioral health services, or various substance abuse 
treatment facility sub-types.
    Burden Statement: Burden in this context means the time expended by 
persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose, or provide the 
information requested. This includes the time needed to review 
instructions; to develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and 
systems for the purpose of collecting, validating, and verifying

[[Page 55466]]

information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and 
providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to 
a collection of information; to search data sources; to complete and 
review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise 
disclose the information. The total annual burden hours estimated for 
this ICR are summarized in the table below.

                                    Total Estimated Annualized Burden--Hours
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                                                                                      Average
                                     Number of       Number of         Total        burden per     Total burden
            Form name               respondents    responses per     responses     response  (in       hours
                                                    respondent                        hours)
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STAR LRP Application............             300               1             300             .50             150
Authorization for Disclosure of              300               1             300             .50             150
 Loan Information Form..........
Privacy Act Release                          300               1             300             .50             150
 Authorization Form.............
Employment Verification Form....             300               1             300             .50             150
Site Application................             400               1             400            1.00             400
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    Total.......................           1,600  ..............           1,600  ..............            1000
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    HRSA specifically requests comments on (1) the necessity and 
utility of the proposed information collection for the proper 
performance of the agency's functions, (2) the accuracy of the 
estimated burden, (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 
of the information to be collected, and (4) the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology to 
minimize the information collection burden.

Maria G. Button,
Director, Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2020-19776 Filed 9-4-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P