[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 203 (Friday, October 21, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64065-64066]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-22863]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection: 
Public Comment Request; Information Collection Request Title: Healthy 
Start Evaluation and Quality Improvement; OMB No. 0915-0338--Revision

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 December 
20, 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 request collection title 
for reference.
    Information Collection Request Title: Healthy Start Evaluation and 
Quality Improvement, OMB No. 0915-0338--Revision.
    Abstract: The National Healthy Start Program, authorized by 42 
U.S.C. 254c-8 (section 330H of the Public Health Service Act), and 
funded through HRSA's Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), has the 
goal to improve health outcomes before, during, and after pregnancy, 
and reduce racial/ethnic differences in rates of infant death and 
adverse perinatal outcomes. The program began as a demonstration 
project with 15 grantees in 1991 and has expanded since then to 101 
grantees across 35 states; Puerto Rico; and Washington, DC. Healthy 
Start grantees operate in communities with rates of infant mortality at 
least 1.5 times the U.S. national average and high rates for other 
adverse perinatal outcomes. These communities are often low-income and 
located in geographically, racially, ethnically, and linguistically 
diverse areas. Healthy Start offers services during the perinatal 
period (before, during, after pregnancy) and the program works with 
women, men, and infants/children through the first 18 months after 
birth. The Healthy Start program pursues four goals: (1) improve 
women's health, (2) improve family health and wellness, (3) promote 
systems change, and (4) assure impact and effectiveness. Over the past 
few years, MCHB has sought to implement a uniform set of data elements 
for monitoring and conducting an evaluation to assess grantees' 
progress towards these program goals. Under the current OMB approval, 
the data collection instruments for the program's reporting 
requirements include three participant-level screening tools: (1) 
Background, (2) Prenatal, and (3) Parenting Information.
    In this proposed revision, MCHB plans to retain the participant-
level tools as approved by OMB in 2020; however, MCHB did introduce 
minor changes to the forms. These changes included only the following: 
correction of typos, addition of response options (e.g., ``don't 
know,'' ``declined to answer''), and clarification of instructions. The 
purpose of these minor changes is to improve the quality of the 
instruments and make it easier for the respondents to complete the 
forms. The improved instructions should reduce confusion in completing 
the forms. Adding additional response options will eliminate forced 
responses that do not represent the participant's intent and will 
increase response accuracy.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: The purpose of the 
revised data collection instruments will be to assess grantee and 
participant-level progress towards meeting Healthy Start

[[Page 64066]]

program performance measures. The data will be used to conduct ongoing 
performance monitoring of the program, thus meeting program needs for 
accountability, programmatic decision-making, and ongoing quality 
assurance.
    Likely Respondents: For the General Background, Prenatal, and 
Parenting Information participant-level forms, respondents include 
pregnant women, women of reproductive age, and men who are served by 
the Healthy Start program.
    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 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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                                                     Number of                    Average burden
            Form name                Number of     responses per       Total       per response    Total burden
                                    respondents     respondent       responses      (in hours)         hours
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General Background Form.........         *45,700               1          45,700             .30          13,710
Prenatal........................         *30,300               1          30,300             .10           3,030
Parenting.......................         *30,300               1          30,300             .25           7,575
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    Total.......................         106,300  ..............         106,300  ..............          24,315
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 *All adult participants (45,700) complete the General Background form, and a subset of these same individuals
  (30,300) also complete the Prenatal or Parenting forms for total of 106,300 responses.

    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 and utility 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. 2022-22863 Filed 10-20-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P