[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 120 (Friday, June 21, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52068-52069]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-13624]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Rural Health Care 
Coordination Program Performance Improvement Measures

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 July 22, 
2024.

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 Joella Roland, the HRSA 
Information Collection Clearance Officer, at [email protected] or call 
(301) 443-3983.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Information Collection Request Title: Rural Health Care 
Coordination Program Performance Improvement Measures, OMB No. 0906-
0024--Revision.
    Abstract: The Rural Health Care Coordination (Care Coordination) 
Program is authorized under 42 U.S.C. 254c(e) (section 330A(e) of the 
Public Health Service Act) to promote rural health care services 
outreach by improving and expanding the delivery of health care 
services through comprehensive care coordination strategies addressing 
a primary focus area: (1) heart disease; (2) cancer; (3) chronic lower 
respiratory disease; (4) stroke; or (5) maternal health. This authority 
permits the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy within HRSA to award 
grants to eligible entities to promote rural health care services 
outreach by improving and expanding the delivery of health care 
services to include new and enhanced services in rural areas, through 
community engagement and evidence-based or innovative, evidence-
informed models. HRSA currently collects information about Care 
Coordination Program grants using an OMB-approved set of performance 
measures and seeks to revise that approved collection. The proposed 
changes to this information collection are a result of award recipient 
feedback and information gathered from the previously approved Care 
Coordination Program measures.
    A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register on January 
17, 2024, 89 FR 2960-2961. There were no public comments.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: This program needs 
measures that will enable HRSA to provide aggregate program data 
required by Congress under the Government Performance and Results Act 
of 1993. These measures cover the principal topic areas of interest to 
HRSA, including: (1) access to care; (2) population demographics and 
social determinants of health; (3) care coordination and network 
infrastructure; (4) sustainability; (5) leadership and workforce; (6) 
electronic health record; (7) telehealth; (8) utilization; and (9) 
clinical measures/improved outcomes. All measures will evaluate HRSA's 
progress toward achieving its goals.
    The proposed changes include additional components under ``Access 
to Care'' and ``Population Demographic'' sections that seek information 
about the target population, counties served, direct services, and 
social determinants

[[Page 52069]]

of health such as transportation barriers, housing, and food 
insecurity. Questions about Health Information Technology and 
Telehealth have been modified to reflect an updated telehealth 
definition and to improve understanding of how these important 
technologies are affecting HRSA award recipients. Sections previously 
titled ``Care Coordination'' and ``Quality Improvement'' sections were 
consolidated into one section titled ``Care Coordination and Network 
Infrastructure'' to improve clarity and ease of reporting for 
respondents. Part of the previous ``Care Coordination'' section was 
revised to include a section titled ``Utilization'' to improve clarity 
of instructions for related measures. Previously titled ``Staffing'' 
section was revised to ``Leadership and Workforce Composition'' to 
improve measure clarity and reduce overall burden for respondents by 
consolidating measures from previously separate ``Staffing'', ``Quality 
Improvement'' and ``Care Coordination'' sections. Revised National 
Quality Forum and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services measures 
were also included to allow uniform collection efforts throughout the 
Federal Office of Rural Health Policy.
    The total number of measures has increased from 40 total measures 
to 48 total measures since the previous information collection request. 
Of the 48 measures, 11 measures are designated as ``optional'' or 
``complete as applicable''. The measures within Section 6: Electronic 
Health Record are noted as optional to grantees. In Section 9: 
``Clinical Measures/Improved Health Outcomes'', grantees are only 
required to respond to Clinical Measure 1: Care Coordination. Grantees 
can choose to provide data for Clinical Measures 2-10 if applicable to 
their projects. The total number of responses has remained at 10 since 
the previous information collection request. While the new Care 
Coordination Program grant cycle maintained the same number of award 
recipients and number of respondents, in consideration of the new 
cohort of awardees, HRSA has increased the estimated average burden per 
response. The increase in burden is largely due to the amount of time 
it takes to build systems to capture and report data at the start of a 
new project. Recent feedback from grantees indicated that larger 
networks with multiple members and programs across different 
organizations also experienced higher burdens due to the wait time in 
between responses. The increase in burden hours remains consistent with 
the proposed changes that better reflect the program scope and intent 
of the notice of funding opportunity announcement, HRSA-23-125, under 
which the new cohort of grants was awarded.
    Likely Respondents: The respondents would be recipients of the 
Rural Health Care Coordination Program grants.
    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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                                                     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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Rural Health Care Coordination                10               1              10           48.67          486.70
 Program Performance Improvement
 Measures.......................
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    Total.......................              10  ..............              10  ..............          486.70
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Maria G. Button,
Director, Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2024-13624 Filed 6-20-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P