[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 9, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1103-1105]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-00210]
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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: Bureau of
Health Workforce Performance Data Collection, OMB No. 0915-0061--
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 February
8, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent
[[Page 1104]]
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 Joella Roland, the HRSA
Information Collection Clearance Officer, at [email protected] or call
(301) 443-3983.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When submitting comments or requesting
information, please include the information request collection title
for reference.
Information Collection Request Title: Bureau of Health Workforce
Performance Data Collection, OMB No. 0915-0061--Revision.
Abstract: Over 50 Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) programs award
grants to health professions schools and training programs across the
United States to develop, expand, and enhance training, and to
strengthen the distribution of the health workforce. These programs are
governed by titles III, VII, and VIII of the Public Health Service Act.
Performance information is collected in the HRSA Performance Report for
Grants and Cooperative Agreements. Data collection activities
consisting of an annual progress report and an annual performance
report satisfy statutory and programmatic requirements for performance
measurement and evaluation (including specific title III, VII and VIII
requirements), as well as Government Performance and Results Act of
1993, the Government Performance and Results Act Modernization Act of
2010, and the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018
requirements. The performance measures were last revised in 2022 to
ensure they addressed programmatic changes, met evolving program
management needs, and responded to emerging workforce concerns. As
these changes were successful, BHW will continue with its current
performance management strategy and make additional changes that reduce
burden, simplify reporting, reflect new Department of Health and Human
Services and HRSA priorities, and enable longitudinal analysis of
program performance. Specifically, an Excel upload feature was
implemented for all programs to reduce burden. Questions on
partnerships were revised and standardized across forms to understand
the type and purposes of partnerships associated with grant funding.
Employment-related questions were standardized across programs and
forms to provide consistent outcomes on employment location, type of
employment, and hiring organization. New questions were added for
programs using apprenticeships. Specifically, questions were added to
measure additional employment outcomes including role at the employment
site and vulnerable populations served and to measure program
satisfaction and types of competencies graduates were ready to perform.
A 60-day notice published in the Federal Register on October 19,
2023, 88 FR 72086-87. There was one public comment. The commenter was
complementary of BHW's efforts to consolidate performance data into one
collection and raised questions related to collaborating with other
departments on the data collection, defining apprenticeships, and
making individual-level data publicly available. Specifically, the
commenter asked how HRSA collaborates on data collection with agencies
outside of the Department of Health and Human services. Our response to
the commenter explained the data collected via this OMB package are
performance metrics specific to HRSA grant programs and the data are
used to meet obligations for performance budgeting. This is in
alignment with the Government's authorization to collect data to meet
reporting requirements. The commenter also asked how HRSA defines
apprenticeships and how it aligns with definitions from other agencies.
HRSA responded that it uses the Department of Labor's definition of
apprentices and that it included questions from the Department of
Labor's Employment and Training Administration instrument to reduce
reporting burden and made data comparable across the agencies. Lastly,
the commenter requested that HRSA make more individual-level data
available, but statute prohibits HRSA from doing so (see 42 U.S.C. 292
et seq.). There was a follow-up comment from the same commenter
regarding HRSA working with external researchers to analyze data on
workforce program participants. HRSA's response was that HRSA does not
work with external researchers to analyze data collected on workforce
programs. Aggregated data is publicly available to external researchers
via HRSA's data warehouse.
Need and Proposed Use of the Information: The purpose of the
proposed data collection is to continue analysis and reporting of
grantee training activities and education, identify details about the
practice locations where trainees work (or plan to work) after program
completion, and report outcomes of funded initiatives. Data collected
from these grant programs will also provide a description of the
program activities of approximately 1,828 reporting grantees to inform
policymakers on the barriers, opportunities, and outcomes involved in
health care workforce development. The proposed measures focus on four
key outcomes:
(1) increasing the workforce supply of well-educated practitioners
in needed professions,
(2) increasing the number of practitioners that practice in
underserved and rural areas,
(3) enhancing the quality of education, and
(4) supporting educational infrastructure to increase the capacity
to train more health professionals in high demand areas.
Likely Respondents: Respondents are awardees of BHW health
professions grant programs.
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.
[[Page 1105]]
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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Direct Financial Support Program 619 1 619 2.7 1,671.3
Infrastructure Program.......... 219 1 219 4.8 1,051.2
Multipurpose or Hybrid Program.. 1,044 1 1,044 3.1 3,236.4
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Total....................... 1,882 .............. 1,882 .............. 5,958.9
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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. 2024-00210 Filed 1-8-24; 8:45 am]
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