[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 105 (Wednesday, June 1, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33173-33174]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-11710]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection: 
Public Comment Request: Health Center Workforce Well-Being Survey 
Evaluation and Technical Assistance; OMB No. 0915-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 requirement for opportunity for public 
comment on proposed data collection projects of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, HRSA announces plans to submit an Information Collection 
Request (ICR), described below, to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB). Prior to submitting the ICR to OMB, HRSA seeks comments from the 
public regarding the burden estimate, below, or any other aspect of the 
ICR.

DATES: Comments on this ICR should be received no later than July 1, 
2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments to [email protected] or by mail to the 
HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer, Room 14N136B, 5600 
Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the data collection plans and 
draft instruments, email [email protected] or call Samantha Miller, 
the acting HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer at (301) 443-
9094.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When submitting comments or requesting 
information, please include the information collection request title 
for reference.
    Information Collection Request Title: Health Center Workforce Well-
being Survey Evaluation and Technical Assistance OMB No. 0906-XXXX--
New.
    Abstract: The Health Center Program, authorized by section 330 of 
the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 254b, and administered by 
HRSA, Bureau of Primary Health Care, supports the provision of 
community-based preventive and primary health care services to millions 
of medically underserved and vulnerable people. Health centers employ 
over 400,000 health care staff (i.e., physicians, medical, dental, 
mental and behavioral health, vision services, pharmacy, enabling 
services, quality improvement, and facility and non-clinical support 
staff.)
    Provider and non-provider staff well-being is essential to 
recruiting and retaining staff, thus supporting access to quality 
health care and services through the Health Center Program. HRSA has 
created a nationwide Health Center Workforce Well-being Survey to 
identify and address challenges related to provider and staff well-
being. The survey will be administered to all full-time and part-time 
health center staff in the fall of 2022 to identify conditions and 
circumstances that affect staff well-being at HRSA funded health 
centers, including the scope and nature of workforce well-being, job 
satisfaction, and burnout. This information can inform efforts to 
improve workforce well-being and maintain high quality patient care.
    The Health Center Workforce Well-being Survey aims to collect and 
analyze data from no less than 85 percent of health center staff. HRSA 
will utilize stakeholder engagement strategies to support survey 
completion targets. The HRSA contractor will request email addresses 
for all health center staff from health center leadership. Using the 
email addresses provided, the contractor will administer the online 
survey to ensure data quality and respondent confidentiality. 
Participation in the Health Center Workforce Well-being Survey is 
voluntary for all health center staff. The contractor will analyze the 
responses and provide analytic reports. HRSA will disseminate the 
summary level data for public use, including preparing preliminary 
findings and analytic reports.
    A 60-day Notice was published in the Federal Register, 87, FR 14019 
(March 11, 2022). One public comment was received and recommended 
shortening the survey from the current 30 minutes to 10-15 minutes to 
complete and provided suggestions on how to shorten the survey. This 
comment also recommended distributing the survey to Look-Alikes (LALs) 
to increase the number of survey respondents and for more diverse 
survey analysis.
    HRSA received four public requests for materials that included one 
request for a copy of the draft ICR for the Health Center Workforce 
Well-being Survey, and three requests for a copy of the Health Center 
Workforce Well-being Survey. In response to receiving a copy of the 
Health Center Workforce Well-being Survey, one of the requesters noted 
concerns about sending individual health center staff email addresses 
to HRSA's contractor carrying out the survey. In response to this

[[Page 33174]]

concern, HRSA informed the commenter that the contractor conducting the 
survey would address this by issuing each health center a document ``in 
advance of the survey roll out that will detail the extensive 
precautions and guarantees regarding the collection, storage, use, and 
destruction of the email addresses provided, as well as the data 
security, de-identification, and reporting aggregation procedures that 
will be utilized to protect the content of the responses and the 
confidentiality of the respondents. If a health center has remaining 
concerns that are not addressed by those procedures, our team will 
directly discuss alternate means by which a tracked and closed response 
could be collected from staff at that organization.''
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: Health care workforce 
burnout has been a challenge even prior to COVID-19 and other recent 
public health crises. Clinicians and health care staff have reported 
experiencing alarming rates of burnout, characterized as a high degree 
of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a low sense of personal 
accomplishment at work.\1\ Understanding the factors impacting 
workforce well-being and satisfaction, reducing burnout, and applying 
evidence-based technical assistance and other quality improvement 
strategies around workforce well-being is essential as the health 
center program health care workforce continues to respond to and 
recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future health care 
delivery challenges.
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    \1\ West, CP, Dyrbye, L.N., Satele, D.V, Sloan, J.A., & 
Shanafelt, T.D. (2012). Concurrent validity of single-item measures 
of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization in burnout assessment. 
J Gen Intern Med, 27(11 PG-1445-52), 1445-1452. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-012-2015-7.
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    Administration of the Health Center Workforce Well-being Survey 
will provide a comprehensive baseline assessment of health center 
workforce well-being and identify opportunities to improve workforce 
well-being and bolster technical assistance and other strategies. These 
efforts will further HRSA's goal of providing access to quality health 
care and supporting a robust primary care workforce.
    Likely Respondents: Health center staff in HRSA funded health 
centers.
    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 
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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Health Center Workforce Survey..         400,000               1         400,000             .50         200,000
Health Center Leader Support               1,400               1           1,400            2.00           2,800
 Activities.....................
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    Total.......................         401,400  ..............         401,400  ..............         202,800
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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. 2022-11710 Filed 5-31-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P