[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 62 (Thursday, March 31, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18799-18800]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-06783]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Community Living


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Public Comment Request; the National Survey of Older Americans 
Act Participants Module on Emergency Preparedness; OMB 0985-0023

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 section 506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995. This 30-Day notice solicits comments on the addition of a new 
rotating module on Emergency Preparedness to be added to the currently 
approved National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants used by 
ACL to measure program performance for programs funded under Title III 
of the Older Americans Act.

DATES: Submit written comments on the collection of information by May 
2, 2022.

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: Terrill Curtis, Administration for 
Community Living, Washington, DC 20201, by email at 
[email protected] or by telephone at 202-795-7420.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, ACL has 
submitted the following proposed collection of information to OMB for 
review and clearance. The Administration for Community Living (ACL) is 
requesting approval for a rotating module on Emergency Preparedness to 
be added to the currently approved National Survey of Older Americans 
Act (OAA) Participants. The purpose of adding questions on emergency 
preparedness to the NSOAAP is to measure the extent to which older 
adults have received training on, and are prepared for, an emergency 
event.
    Older adults often have unique needs during an emergency or crisis. 
For example, they may have mobility challenges and/or chronic health 
conditions, or they may not have any family or friends nearby to 
support them. Support services that an older adult relies on to live at 
home, such as help from family caregivers, in-home health care, and 
home delivered meals, may be unavailable due to the disaster. These 
conditions increase a person's vulnerability and may lead to nursing 
home care that may have been otherwise avoidable. In addition, older 
adults may be hearing or vision impaired or have a cognitive impairment 
such as dementia, which may make it difficult to access and respond to 
emergency directions. The assessment of emergency preparedness levels 
among the OAA population is necessary to prevent injuries, to plan 
assistance strategies, and to increase resilience for older Americans.
    ACL is requesting approval for a module on Emergency Preparedness 
to be added to the currently approved NSOAAP data collection effort. 
This module on Emergency Preparedness was originally included in the 
60-day FRN on November 17, 2020 (85 FR 73273). However, due to the 
ongoing health crisis older adults were experiencing because of COVID-
19, a module on the pandemic was added to the 2021 NSOAAP instead of 
the Emergency Preparedness module.
    The data will be used by the Administrator of the Administration 
for Community Living/Assistant Secretary for Aging to:
     Help States and AAAs to structure their programs and 
services to better prepare OAA clients for emergencies.
     Provide secondary data for analysis of the level of 
preparedness among OAA clients in the event of disasters such as 
natural disasters; public health emergencies; man-made disasters; and 
technological emergencies.
     Identify gaps in emergency preparedness at the national 
level that may disproportionately affect the most vulnerable OAA 
clients such as those living in rural areas, having income

[[Page 18800]]

below the poverty level, belonging to a racial or ethnic minority 
group, and/or having a disability.
    Descriptions of previous National Surveys of OAA Participants can 
be found under the section on OAA Performance Information on ACL's 
website at: https://acl.gov/programs/performance-older-americans-act-programs. Copies of the survey instruments and data from previous 
National Surveys of OAA Participants can be found and queried using the 
Aging, Independence, and Disability (AGID) Program Data Portal at 
http://www.agid.acl.gov/.
    Estimated Program Burden: ACL estimates the burden associated with 
this collection of information as follows:

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                                                      Number of       Responses per      Hours per      Annual burden                     Annual burden
       Respondent/data collection activity           respondents       respondent         response          hours        Cost per hour        (cost)
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Rotating Module on Emergency Preparedness........           6,000                 1               .2            1,200              $25          $30,000
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    Dated: March 25, 2022.
Alison Barkoff,
Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging.
[FR Doc. 2022-06783 Filed 3-30-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4154-01-P