Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 43 / Friday, March 4, 2011 / Notices 12073 

1The 60-day notice included the following 

estimate of the aggregate burden hours for this 

generic clearance Federal-wide: 

Average Expected Annual Number of Activities: 

25,000. 

Average number of Respondents per Activity: 

200. 

Annual Responses: 5,000,000. 

Frequency of Response: Once per request. 

Average Minutes per Response: 30. 

Burden Hours: 2,500,000. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Generic Clearance for the 

Collection of Qualitative Feedback on 

Agency Service Delivery. 

Abstract: The information collection 

activity will garner qualitative customer 

and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, 

timely manner, in accordance with the 

Administration’s commitment to 

improving service delivery. By 

qualitative feedback we mean 

information that provides useful 

insights on perceptions and opinions, 

but are not statistical surveys that yield 

quantitative results that can be 

generalized to the population of study. 

This feedback will provide insights into 

customer or stakeholder perceptions, 

experiences and expectations, provide 

an early warning of issues with service, 

or focus attention on areas where 

communication, training or changes in 

operations might improve delivery of 

products or services. These collections 

will allow for ongoing, collaborative and 

actionable communications between the 

Agency and its customers and 

stakeholders. It will also allow feedback 

to contribute directly to the 

improvement of program management. 

Feedback collected under this generic 

clearance will provide useful 

information, but it will not yield data 

that can be generalized to the overall 

population. This type of generic 

clearance for qualitative information 

will not be used for quantitative 

information collections that are 

designed to yield reliably actionable 

results, such as monitoring trends over 

time or documenting program 

performance. Such data uses require 

more rigorous designs that address: The 

target population to which 

generalizations will be made, the 

sampling frame, the sample design 

(including stratification and clustering), 

the precision requirements or power 

calculations that justify the proposed 

sample size, the expected response rate, 

methods for assessing potential nonresponse bias, the protocols for data 

collection, and any testing procedures 

that were or will be undertaken prior to 

fielding the study. Depending on the 

degree of influence the results are likely 

to have, such collections may still be 

eligible for submission for other generic 

mechanisms that are designed to yield 

quantitative results. 

No comments were received in 

response to the 60-day notice published 

in the Federal Register of December 22, 

2010 (75 FR 80542). 

Below we provide Corporation for 

National and Community Service 

projected average estimates for the next 

three years: 1

Current Actions: New collection of 

information. 

Type of Review: New Collection. 

Affected Public: Individuals and 

Households, Businesses and 

Organizations, State, Local or Tribal 

Government. 

Average Expected Annual Number of 

Activities: 20. 

Respondents: 93,000. 

Annual Responses: 93,000. 

Frequency of Response: Once per 

request. 

Average Minutes per Response: 60. 

Burden Hours: 93,000. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to, a collection of information 

unless it displays a currently valid 

Office of Management and Budget 

control number. 

Dated: February 28, 2011. 

Amy Borgstrom, 

Associate Director of Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2011–4881 Filed 3–3–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6050–$$–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Office of the Secretary 

Extension of Web-Based TRICARE 

Assistance Program Demonstration 

Program 

AGENCY: Department of Defense. 

ACTION: Notice of a Two Year Extension 

of the Web-Based TRICARE Assistance 

Program. 

SUMMARY: This notice is to advise 

interested parties of an extension to the 

Military Health System (MHS) 

demonstration project, under authority 

of Title 10, U.S. Code, Section 1092, 

entitled Web-Based TRICARE 

Assistance Program. This demonstration 

was effective August 1, 2009, as 

referenced in the original Federal 

Register Notice, 74 FR 3667, July 24, 

2009. The demonstration was extended 

to March 31, 2011, as referenced by 

Federal Register Notice, March 30, 

2010. The demonstration project uses 

existing managed care support contracts 

(MCSC) to allow Web-based behavioral 

health and related services including 

non-medical counseling and advice 

services to active duty service members 

(ADSM), their families and members 

and their dependents enrolled in 

TRICARE Reserve Select, and those 

eligible for the Transition Assistance 

Management Program (TAMP) who 

reside in the continental United States. 

The extension is necessary to allow 

more time to measure the effectiveness 

of the demonstration in meeting its goal 

of improving beneficiary access to 

behavioral health care by incorporating 

Web-based technology. 

DATES: Effective Date: This extension 

will be effective April 1, 2011. The 

demonstration project will continue 

until March 31, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: TRICARE Management 

Activity (TMA), Health Plan Operations, 

5111 Leesburg Pike, Suite 810, Falls 

Church, VA 22041. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

questions pertaining to this 

demonstration project, Mr. Richard 

Hart, (703) 681–0047. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

a. Background 

On page 431 of the House 

Appropriations Committee Print 

accompanying H.R. 2638, the 

Department of Defense Appropriations 

Act for FY 2009, Joint Explanatory 

Statement, it is noted: ‘‘An area of 

particular interest is the provision of 

appropriate and accessible counseling to 

service members and their families who 

live in locations that are not close to 

military treatment facilities, other MHS 

facilities, or TRICARE providers. Webbased delivery of counseling has 

significant potential to offer counseling 

to personnel who otherwise might not 

be able to access it. Therefore, the 

Department is directed to establish and 

use a Web-based Clinical Mental Health 

Services Program as a way to deliver 

critical clinical mental health services to 

service members and families in rural 

areas.’’ 

The TRICARE Assistance Program 

(TRIAP) demonstration, as outlined in 

74 FR 3667 July 24, 2009 launched 

August 1, 2009, to provide the 

capability for short-term, problem 

solving counseling between eligible 

beneficiaries and licensed counselors 

utilizing video technology and software 

such as Skype or iChat. Regional 

contractors were tasked with 

formulating and initiating the programs. 

TRIAP services are available 24/7 and 

ADSMs, their spouses of any age, and 

other family members 18 years of age or 

older who reside in the United States 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
12074 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 43 / Friday, March 4, 2011 / Notices 

are eligible to participate. Enrollees in 

TRICARE Reserve Select and the 

Transitional Assistance Management 

Program may also use the program. 

TRIAP provides assistance to 

beneficiaries dealing with personal 

problems that might adversely impact 

their work performance, health, and 

well-being. It includes assessment, 

short-term counseling, and referrals to 

more comprehensive levels of care if 

needed. TRIAP is based on commercial 

employee assistance models and 

provides counseling in a virtual face-toface environment. There is a no 

diagnosis made, there are no limits to 

usage, and no notification about those 

seeking counseling will be made to their 

primary care managers or others, unless 

required by the counselor’s licensure 

(e.g., spouse abuse). Participant 

confidentiality is protected, as no 

medical record entry is made. 

Calls per month to the TRIAP line 

since the demonstration was extended 

and an aggressive marketing campaign 

launched have increased two fold, 

however, the majority (89%) of the calls 

are in the TRICARE West Region. In 

order to re-engage education efforts in 

the TRICARE North and South regions, 

allow enough time for these efforts to 

take effect and provide enough time to 

gather adequate data on the feasibility of 

utilizing audio and visual technologies 

including Web-based services to our 

active duty service members, their 

families and other beneficiaries on a 

permanent basis, an extension of the 

demonstration is necessary. 

b. Implementation 

This demonstration extension will be 

effective April 1, 2011. 

c. Evaluation 

As noted in the original Federal 

Register Notice, 74 FR 3667 July 24, 

2009, and the extension Federal 

Register Notice, March 30, 2010, an 

independent evaluation of the 

demonstration will be conducted. It will 

be performed retrospectively and using 

administrative measures of behavioral 

health care access to provide analyses 

and comment on the effectiveness of the 

demonstration in meeting its goal of 

improving beneficiary access to 

behavioral health care by incorporating 

Web-based technology. 

Dated: March 1, 2011. 

Morgan F. Park, 

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison 

Officer, Department of Defense. 

[FR Doc. 2011–4867 Filed 3–3–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Office of the Secretary 

TRICARE, Formerly Known as the 

Civilian Health and Medical Program of 

the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS); 

Fiscal Year 2011 Mental Health Rate 

Updates 

AGENCY: Department of Defense. 

ACTION: Notice of Updated Mental 

Health Rates for Fiscal Year 2011. 

SUMMARY: This notice provides the 

updated regional per-diem rates for lowvolume mental health providers; the 

update factor for hospital-specific perdiems; the updated cap per-diem for 

high-volume providers; the beneficiary 

per-diem cost-share amount for lowvolume providers; and, the updated perdiem rates for both full-day and half-day 

TRICARE Partial Hospitalization 

Programs for Fiscal Year 2011. 

DATES: Effective Date: The Fiscal Year 

2011 rates contained in this notice are 

effective for services on or after October 

1, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: TRICARE Management 

Activity (TMA), Medical Benefits and 

Reimbursement Branch, 16401 East 

Centretech Parkway, Aurora, CO 80011– 

9066. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ann 

N. Fazzini, Medical Benefits and 

Reimbursement Branch, TMA, 

telephone (303) 676–3803. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The final 

rule published in the Federal Register 

(FR) on September 6, 1988 (53 FR 

34285) set forth reimbursement changes 

that were effective for all inpatient 

hospital admissions in psychiatric 

hospitals and exempt psychiatric units 

occurring on or after January 1, 1989. 

The final rule published in the Federal 

Register on July 1, 1993 (58 FR 35–400) 

set forth maximum per-diem rates for all 

partial hospitalization admissions on or 

after September 29, 1993. Included in 

these final rules were provisions for 

updating reimbursement rates for each 

federal Fiscal Year. As stated in the final 

rules, each per-diem shall be updated by 

the Medicare update factor for hospitals 

and units exempt from the Medicare 

Prospective Payment System (i.e., this is 

the same update factor used for the 

inpatient prospective payment system). 

For Fiscal Year 2011, the market basket 

rate is 2.6 percent. This year, Medicare 

applied two reductions to their market 

basket amount: (1) a 0.25 percent 

reduction due to provisions found in the 

Patient Protection and Affordable Care 

Act, and (2) a 2.9 percent reduction for 

documentation and coding adjustments 

found in Public Law 110–90. These two 

reductions do not apply to TRICARE. 

Hospitals and units with hospital 

specific rates (hospitals and units with 

high TRICARE volume) and regional 

specific rates for psychiatric hospitals 

and units with low TRICARE volume 

will have their TRICARE rates for Fiscal 

Year 2011 updated by 2.6 percent. 

Partial hospitalization rates for fullday and half-day programs will also be 

updated by 2.6 percent for Fiscal Year 

2011. 

The cap amount for high-volume 

hospitals and units will also be updated 

by the 2.6 percent for Fiscal Year 2011. 

The beneficiary cost share for low 

volume hospitals and units will also be 

updated by the 2.6 percent for Fiscal 

Year 2011. 

Per 32 Code of Federal Regulations 

(CFR) 199.14, the same area wage 

indexes used for the CHAMPUS 

Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG)-based 

payment system shall be applied to the 

wage portion of the applicable regional 

per-diem for each day of the admission. 

The wage portion shall be the same as 

that used for the CHAMPUS DRG-based 

payment system. For wage index values 

greater than 1.0, the wage portion of the 

regional rate subject to the area wage 

adjustment is 68.8 percent for Fiscal 

Year 2011. For wage index values less 

than or equal to 1.0, the wage portion 

of the regional rate subject to the area 

wage adjustment is 62 percent. 

Additionally, 32 CFR 199.14, requires 

that hospital specific and regional perdiems shall be updated by the Medicare 

update factor for hospitals and units 

exempt from the Medicare prospective 

payment system. 

The following reflect an update of 2.6 

percent for Fiscal Year 2011. 

REGIONAL SPECIFIC RATES FOR PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS AND UNITS

WITH LOW TRICARE VOLUME FOR

FISCAL YEAR 2011 

United States census region Regional 

rate 

Northeast: 

New England ..................... $764 

Mid-Atlantic ........................ 736 

Midwest: 

East North Central ............. 636 

West North Central ............ 600 

South: 

South Atlantic .................... 757 

East South Central ............ 810 

West South Central ........... 690 

West: 

Mountain ............................ 689 

Pacific ................................ 814 

Puerto Rico ........................ 519 

Beneficiary cost-share: Beneficiary 

cost-share (other than dependents of 


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