[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 7, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7986-7987]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-02544]


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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; Optimizing Virtual Care 
Grant Program Performance Measures, OMB No. 0906-0075--NEW

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with of 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 March 9, 
2023.

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 Samantha Miller, the acting 
HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer, at [email protected] or 
call (301) 443-9094.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Information Collection Request Title: Optimizing Virtual Care Grant 
Program Performance Measures OMB No. 0915-0075--NEW.
    Abstract: The Health Center Program and supplemental awards for 
health centers are authorized by section 330 of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b). HRSA is authorized to make supplemental 
awards for health centers to ``implement evidence-based models for 
increasing access to high-quality primary care services, which may 
include models related to expanding the use of telehealth and 
technology-enabled collaborative learning and capacity building 
models.'' 42 U.S.C. 254b(d)(1)(E). Under the Optimizing Virtual Care 
(OVC) grant program, 29 high-performing health centers received 2-year 
supplemental awards to increase health care access and quality for 
underserved populations through virtual care such as telehealth, remote 
patient monitoring, digital patient tools, and health information 
technology platforms. Specifically, award recipients will use OVC 
funding to develop and implement innovative evidence-based strategies 
with the potential to be adapted, leveraged, and scaled across the 
Health Center Program to increase access to care and improve clinical 
quality by optimizing the use of virtual care with a specific focus on 
underserved communities and vulnerable populations.
    The goal of the OVC grant program is to continue to support 
innovation that began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when health centers 
quickly expanded their use of virtual care to maintain access to 
essential primary care services for underserved communities. HRSA-
funded health centers serve special and vulnerable populations facing 
barriers to virtual care access, such as low digital literacy, low 
connectivity capabilities, or limited technology access. The OVC grant 
recipients will serve as a model for how to increase equitable virtual 
care, generating and refining strategies that can be adapted and scaled 
across the Health Center Program.
    A 60-day notice published in the Federal Register, 87 FR 37874-
37875 (June 24, 2022). HRSA received comments from OVC grant recipients 
during this public comment period. A 30-day notice published in the 
Federal Register, 87 FR 64066-64067 (October 21, 2022). HRSA did not 
receive comments on the 30-day notice. However, HRSA is republishing 
the 30-day notice with the correct information collection instrument.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: The information collected 
on OVC grant recipient activities and performance will help HRSA 
demonstrate, adapt, assess, and disseminate promising practices, 
strategies, and novel models of virtual care across the nation's health 
centers. The information will support an assessment that yields:
     Increased evidence of how to optimize the use of virtual 
care in the Health Center Program to enhance access to care and improve 
clinical quality for underserved communities and special and vulnerable 
populations.
     Maximized impact of the new OVC grant program, as a model 
to be adapted,

[[Page 7987]]

leveraged, and scaled across other HRSA funding opportunities.
     Enhanced evidence base for recommendations to promote and 
scale virtual care innovations focused on increasing health equity and 
specific to Health Center Program patients.
    The assessment will include descriptive analyses of the data on 
grant recipient activities and performance, including analyses of 
trends over time. The analyses will inform recommendations for 
performance measures that HRSA could scale across the Health Center 
Program and across other grant programs like the OVC grant program.
    The grant recipient activities related to implementation of novel 
models of virtual care, including aggregate data on patients served and 
the services they received, will be captured via monthly progress 
reports. A set of health center performance measures will be captured 
in a bi-annual progress report and will provide insight into health 
equity and virtual care. Grant recipients will collect and report 
performance measures based on project goals and objectives that span 
four key population health and clinical domain areas, including (1) 
Increased Access to Care and Information; (2) Improve Clinical Quality 
and Health Outcomes; (3) Enhance Patient Care Coordination; and (4) 
Promote Health Equity.
    Based on comments from OVC grant recipients, the average hours of 
burden per response for the biannual progress report has been increased 
to 55.9 hours from 48 hours as proposed in the 60-day notice. This new 
burden estimate accounts for the fact that performance measures in the 
biannual progress report have different levels of burden per response. 
For example, some measures required significant workflow changes or had 
more complexity. In addition, both the biannual progress and monthly 
progress reports were revised to include updated terms and definitions 
based on feedback collected from OVC grant recipients during the public 
comment period.
    Likely Respondents: Respondents will be the 29 health centers that 
received supplemental awards through the OVC grant 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 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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OVC Grant Monthly Progress                    29              12             348             2.0             696
 Report.........................
OVC Grant Bi-Annual Progress                  29               2              58            55.9           3,242
 Report.........................
                                              29  ..............             406  ..............           3,938
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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. 2023-02544 Filed 2-6-23; 8:45 am]
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