[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 103 (Tuesday, May 30, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34507-34508]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11384]


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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; Rural Public Health 
Workforce Training Network Program Data Collection

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with 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 June 29, 
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: 
    Information Collection Request Title: Rural Public Health Workforce 
Training Network Program Data Collection--OMB No. 0915-xxxx-NEW.
    Abstract: The Rural Public Health Workforce Training Network 
(RPHWTN) Program Data Collection is authorized by section 330A(f) of 
the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254c(f)). Furthermore, section 
2501 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP, Pub. L. 117-2) 
provides funding for the Department of Health and Human Services to 
carry out activities related to expanding and sustaining a public 
health workforce, including to respond to COVID-19. The RPHWTN program, 
which is managed by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy at HRSA, 
intends to expand public health capacity by supporting health care job 
development, training, and placement in rural communities. This grant 
program intends to address the ongoing critical need for trained public 
health professionals in health care facilities serving rural 
communities by establishing networks that will develop formal training/
certification programs. The long-term objective of this program is to 
enhance clinical and operational capacity to adequately address 
population health needs of rural communities negatively impacted by 
COVID-19, including long COVID-19. The HRSA Office of Planning, 
Analysis, and Evaluation will work with the Federal Office of Rural 
Health Policy to design and distribute surveys to RPHWTN grantees and 
trainees, which will serve as program data collection tools. Grantees 
will establish networks that support health care job development, 
training, and placement in rural communities. Trainees are individuals 
participating in the training programs made possible through the 
RPHTWN-supported networks established by program grantees. To 
accomplish RPHWTN program goals, HRSA would like to collect the 
following type of information from respondents:
     From grantees: training content, count of trainings and 
attendees, specific strategies in supporting patients with long COVID-
19 and behavioral health needs, and trainee retention/completion.
     From trainees: limited demographic information (age, ZIP 
code, race, and ethnicity), skills needed to fulfill roles in specific 
tracks selected, skill assessment, professional and/or educational 
experience, and career goals/intentions.
    A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register on December 
9, 2022, vol. 87, No. 236; pp. 75639-75640. There were no public 
comments.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: Per OMB memo M-21-20, the 
ARP provides funding for critical resources to respond to the public 
health crisis the nation faces resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. 
The memo emphasizes the need for a swift government-wide response, 
underscoring the need to ensure the public's trust in how the federal 
government implements ARP programs and distributes ARP funding. 
Accountability and transparency of federal government spending and 
achieving results are necessary for effective stewardship of these 
funds. To this end, federal awarding agencies must collect recipient 
performance reports in a manner that enables the federal government to 
articulate the outcomes of federal financial assistance to the American 
people. HRSA seeks to collect performance information that measures 
progress in achieving program goals and objectives, ensures payment 
integrity, and demonstrates equity-

[[Page 34508]]

oriented results--all while minimizing the reporting burden to federal 
financial assistance recipients. Data from grantees is necessary for 
understanding programmatic activities supported by this HRSA 
investment, providing program monitoring and oversight, assessing the 
sustainability of program-supported activities, and ultimately 
affording HRSA the insights and ability to make specific, evidence 
informed policy and program recommendations moving forward. To 
successfully accomplish the goals of this program in supporting job 
development and training, it is also crucial that HRSA receives a clear 
understanding of trainees' existing and needed skillsets, their 
reception to/feedback about the trainings they receive, and a sense of 
their potential career trajectories as they pertain to the workforce 
training tracks specified by HRSA in the program Notice of Funding 
Opportunity (HRSA-22-117). There are several consequences of the 
federal government not collecting the data for the RPHWTN program as 
described herein. These include: (1) the inability to monitor grant 
activities and therefore inability to ensure sufficient oversight of 
and accountability for this HRSA investment, (2) a lost opportunity to 
better understand the workforce capacity-building needs of the rural 
communities that HRSA serves, and (3) a failure to gather key 
information that could ultimately lead to more evidence informed policy 
and program recommendations in the future.
    Likely Respondents: Respondents of these surveys will be RPHWTN 
grantees and trainees.
    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
            Type of respondent                        Form name             respondents    responses per     responses       response          hours
                                                                                            respondent                        (hours)
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Grantees..................................  Baseline Survey.............              32               1              32            0.25            8.00
                                            Follow-Up Survey............              32               2              64            0.13            8.53
                                            Exit Survey.................              32               1              32            0.25            8.00
Trainees..................................  Trainee Survey..............             500               2           1,000            0.25          250.00
                                                                         -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.................................  ............................             596  ..............           1,128  ..............          274.53
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Maria G. Button,
Director, Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2023-11384 Filed 5-26-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P