[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 33 (Friday, February 17, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10358-10359]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03388]


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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 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 20, 
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 HRSA 
Information Collection Clearance Officer, at [email protected] or call 
301-594-4394.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When submitting comments or requesting 
information, please include the ICR 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, 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, HRSA 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, HRSA plans to retain the participant-
level tools as approved by OMB in 2020; however, HRSA 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.
    A 60-day notice published in the Federal Register, Vol. 87, No. 
203, FR 64065-64066 (Friday, October 21, 2022). There were no public 
comments.
    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 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:

[[Page 10359]]



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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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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. 2023-03388 Filed 2-16-23; 8:45 am]
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