[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 46 (Thursday, March 11, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13904-13907]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-05042]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Community Living

[OMB No. 0985-0039]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Public Comment Request; Prevention and Public Health Fund 
Evidence-Based Falls Prevention Program, Information Collection

AGENCY: Administration for Community Living, HHS.

ACTION: Notice

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SUMMARY: The Administration for Community Living is announcing that the 
proposed collection of information listed above has been submitted to 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance as 
required under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This 30-day notice 
collects comments on the information collection requirements related to 
the proposed Extension with minor changes on the information collection 
requirements related to Prevention and Public Health Funds Evidence-
Based Falls Prevention Program.

DATES: Submit written comments on the collection of information by 
April 12, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection within 30 days of publication of this notice to 
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find the information collection by 
selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' 
or by using the search function. By mail to the Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, New Executive Office Bldg., 725 17th St. 
NW, Rm. 10235, Washington, DC 20503, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for ACL.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shannon Skowronski, Administration for 
Community Living, Washington, DC 20201, Shannon Skowronski, 202-795-
7438, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, ACL has 
submitted the following proposed collection of information to OMB for 
review, comment and approval. The Evidence-Based Falls Prevention Grant 
Program is financed through the Prevention and Public Health Fund 
(PPHF), most recently with FY 2020 PPHF funds. The statutory authority 
for these cooperative is contained in Continuing Appropriations Act, 
2020 and Health Extenders Act of 2019, Public Law 116-59; the Older 
Americans Act (OAA) (Section 411); and the Patient Protection and 
Affordable Care Act, 42 U.S.C. 300u-11 (Prevention and Public Health 
Fund).
    The Evidence-Based Falls Prevention Program supports a national 
resource center and awards competitive grants to implement and promote 
the sustainability of evidence-based community programs that have been 
proven to reduce the falls incidence and risk among for older adults.
    OMB approval of the existing set of Falls Prevention data 
collection tools (OMB Control Number, 0985-0039) expires on 03/31/2021. 
This data collection continues to be necessary for monitoring program 
operations and outcomes.
    ACL/AoA proposes to use the following tools: (1) Semi-annual 
performance reports to monitor grantee progress; (2) a Host/
Implementation Organization Information Form to record location of 
agencies that sponsor programs that will allow mapping of the delivery 
infrastructure; and (3) a set of

[[Page 13905]]

tools used to collect information at each program completed by the 
program leaders (Program Information Cover Sheet and Attendance Log), a 
Participant Information Form to be completed by all participants, and a 
Post Program Survey to be completed by a random sample of participants. 
ACL/AoA intends to continue using an online data entry system for the 
program and participant survey data. Minor changes are being proposed 
to the currently approved tools. All changes proposed are based on 
feedback from a focus group that included a sub-set of current grantees 
and consultation with subject-matter experts.

Comments in Response to the 60-Day Federal Register Notice

    A notice published in the Federal Register on September 28, 2020, 
Volume 85, No. 188, page 60808. There were five public comment emails 
received during the 60-day FRN comment period.
    A summary of the comments and the ACL response is provided below.

              Participant Information Form and Post Survey
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Comment                              Response
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A suggestion was made to add a purpose   ACL did not adopt this
 statement to the forms to better         suggestion. The purpose of
 inform participants of why this          this data collection is multi-
 specific data collection is pertinent.   fold--with different benefits
                                          and potential uses of the data
                                          by federal, state, and local
                                          stakeholders.
Suggestions were made to make            ACL did not adopt these
 adjustments to the wording and/or        suggestions. The wording and
 response options for some of the         response options for the
 demographic questions, such as those     demographic questions included
 related to race, ethnicity, and gender.  are consistent with OMB-
                                          approved surveys for other ACL
                                          programs. Having this
                                          consistency allows ACL and
                                          researchers utilizing this
                                          data to compare outcomes from
                                          the population reached with
                                          ACL's Falls Prevention
                                          Programs to a more broadly
                                          representative population of
                                          older adults.
For some of the non-demographic          ACL did not adopt these
 questions, suggestions were made to      suggestions. ACL consulted
 use different response options, adjust   with experts in the field to
 the wording of the questions, or use     identify validated scales to
 different measurement scales.            capture the information needed
                                          to understand the impact of
                                          the programs on critical
                                          domains. Adjusting the wording
                                          of the questions would impact
                                          their validity.
Several suggestions were made with
 respect to the formatting of the
 forms.
    1. Provide a small box on the        1. ACL did not adopt these
     bottom right hand corner of each     suggestions in order to keep
     sheet to identify participant ID.    the Participant Information
     Should paperwork be separated, it    Form and Post-Survey to one
     provides another mechanism to keep   sheet (front and back). ACL
     forms complete. Also suggest         will be providing the surveys
     adding more white space to the       to grantees in a Word format
     document, increasing the space       so they can make any
     between questions and answers, and   formatting edits they deem
     increasing the font size.            necessary, i.e., larger font
                                          size, more white space, etc.
    2. There needs to be further         2. ACL reviewed the bullet
     consistency with bullet point        point sizes and format of
     sizes and format of questions.       questions to ensure
     They seem to be inconsistent.        consistency.
    3. To better align the pre- and      3. ACL revisited the ordering
     post- survey, it might make sense    of the forms to ensure the
     to move question number 9 on         questions align, to the
     Participant Information Form         greatest extent possible.
     closer to question 12.
    4. In question 7, the word           4. ACL made the spelling
     ``agree,'' is misspelled under       correction to question 7.
     ``Strongly disagree''.
Some commenters suggested including      ACL did not adopt suggestions
 definitions of certain terms on the      to provide detailed definition
 form, for example, defining what is      of terms within the questions.
 meant by ``vigorous'' or ``moderate''    Including definitions would
 exercise.                                increase the length of the
                                          forms, resulting in greater
                                          participant burden. Local
                                          program coordinators are
                                          available to assist
                                          participants completing the
                                          forms, in the event any
                                          questions arise with any of
                                          the specific questions.
A suggestion was made to remove the      ACL adopted this suggestion.
 proposed Question 19 from the
 Participant Information Form, with the
 comment that it is not relevant pre-
 program.
A suggestion was made to adjust the      ACL did not adopt this
 wording of the existing Question 11      suggestion. The ACL Falls
 (and the response options) to align      Prevention and Chronic Disease
 with the ACL Chronic Disease Self-       Self-Management Education
 Management Education data collection     grant programs are two
 forms.                                   distinct grant programs, with
                                          two distinct lists of chronic
                                          conditions in their OMB-
                                          approved data collections.
A suggestion was made to expand the      ACL did not adopt this
 following question on the Participant    suggestion. This question was
 Information Form:                        only included in the
``Are you limited in any way in any       Participant Information Form,
 activities because of physical,          not the Post Survey. The
 mental, or emotional problems?''.        Participant Information Form
                                          and Post Survey already
                                          include questions to assess
                                          limitations due to physical,
                                          mental, and/or emotional
                                          problems, so this question was
                                          deemed duplicative and removed
                                          from the Participant
                                          Information Form entirely to
                                          reduce participant burden.
Suggested replacement questions:
 ``Because of a physical,
 mental, or emotional condition, do
 you:
[cir] Have serious difficulty
 concentrating, remembering, or making
 decisions? Yes, No.
[cir] Have difficulty doing errands
 alone such as visiting a doctor's
 office or shopping? Yes, No''.
 ``Do you have serious
 difficulty walking or climbing stairs?
 Yes, No''.
 ``Do you have difficulty
 dressing or bathing? Yes, No''.
A commenter suggested adding the         ACL did not adopt these
 following questions to the forms:        suggestions to avoid
                                          increasing participant burden
                                          and the length of the forms
                                          beyond one sheet (front and
                                          back).

[[Page 13906]]

 
     ``Are you deaf or do you
     have serious difficulty hearing?
     Yes, No''
     ``Are you blind or do you
     have serious difficulty seeing,
     even when wearing glasses? Yes,
     No''
     ``During the past year,
     did you provide regular care or
     assistance to a friend or family
     member who has a long-term health
     condition or disability?''
------------------------------------------------------------------------


                       Fall Prevention Coversheet
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Comment                              Response
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some commenters suggested not requiring  ACL did not adopt this
 a separate Program Information           suggestion. The grantee focus
 Coversheet--instead folding some of      group reported that this form
 the questions in the coversheet into     was useful for organizing
 the Participant Information Form, Post-  their data collection and
 Survey, and/or the semi-annual grantee   program delivery. Adding
 report.                                  questions to the Participant
                                          Information and Post-Survey
                                          would also increase their
                                          length beyond 1 sheet (front
                                          and back).
A commenter provided the following       ACL adopted these edits.
 formatting-related comments:
     The dotted lines dictating
     the start year appear to be
     missing--suggest adding these; and
     suggest adjusting the
     bullet sizes to be consistent,
     specifically in question number 7,
     the bullet under indicating
     ``other,'' is different from the
     previous bullet
A commenter suggested adding a space to  ACL did not adopt this
 note host/implementation organization.   suggestion.
A commenter suggested adding check       ACL did not adopt this
 boxes to note if the program was         suggestion due to variability
 delivered in a remote format.            in how remote programs are
                                          defined and delivery format.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


                  Host/Implementation Organization Form
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Comment                              Response
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A commenter suggested adding to          ACL did not adopt this
 Question 2 the statement, ``Please       suggestion. The purpose of
 check only if you are a new __ Host      this form is to document new
 Organization __ Implementation Site.''.  host organizations and
                                          implementation sites, so these
                                          additional instructions were
                                          deemed unnecessary.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


                     Fall Prevention Attendance Log
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Comment                              Response
------------------------------------------------------------------------
One commenter suggested using an ``X''   ACL adopted this suggestion.
 (rather than fill in the box) to
 denote sessions attended.
One commenter noted that ``the last      ACL made this correction.
 blank for `end date' is not bolded''.
One commenter suggested changing the     ACL adopted this suggestion.
 form to landscape to account for
 length of Tai Chi and Enhance Fitness
 programs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


                      Comment Relevant to All Forms
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Comment                              Response
------------------------------------------------------------------------
One commenter suggested that ACL         ACL will be providing the
 provide fillable PDF forms.              documents in Word format. If
                                          resources allow, we will also
                                          provide fillable PDFs for
                                          grantee use.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Estimated Program Burden

    ACL estimates the burden associated with this collection of 
information as follows:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Respondent/data collection                                 Responses per         Hours per     Annual burden
             activity               Number of respondents        respondent          response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Project staff, Semi-annual          20...................  Twice a year.........               8             320
 Performance Report.
Local agency leaders Program        436 leaders..........  Twice a year (one set             .50             436
 Information Cover Sheet/                                   per program).
 Participant Information Form/
 Attendance Log/Post Local data
 entry staff; Program Survey.

[[Page 13907]]

 
                                    40 data entry staff..  Once per program x                .50             436
                                                            872 programs.
Local organization staff and local  436 staff............  1....................             .05              22
 database entry staff; Host
 Organization Data Form.
Program participants; Participant   10,455...............  1....................             .10            1046
 Information Form.
Program Participants; Post Program  6,273................  1....................             .10             628
 Survey.
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    Total Burden Hours............  .....................  .....................  ..............            2888
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    Dated: March 5, 2021.
Alison Barkoff,
Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging.
[FR Doc. 2021-05042 Filed 3-10-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4154-01-P