Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 199 / Friday, October 16, 2009 / Notices 53221 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Office of the Secretary 

[Docket ID: DOD–2009–HA–0150] 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request 

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant 

Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, 

DoD. 

ACTION: Notice of action. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with section 

3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of the 

Assistant Secretary of Defense for 

Health Affairs announces a proposed 

new public information collection and 

seeks public comment on the provisions 

thereof. Comments are invited on: 

Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether the 

information shall have practical utility; 

the accuracy of the agency’s estimate of 

the burden of the information 

collection; ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and ways to minimize the 

burden of the information collection on 

respondents, including through the use 

of automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

DATES: Consideration will be given to all 

comments received by December 15, 

2009. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments, 

identified by docket number and title, 

by any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Federal Docket Management 

System Office, 1160 Defense Pentagon, 

Washington, DC 20301–1160. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name, docket 

number and title for this Federal 

Register document. The general policy 

for comments and other submissions 

from members of the general public is 

to make these submissions available for 

public viewing on the Internet at http:// 

www.regulations.gov as they are 

received without change, including any 

personal identifiers or contact 

information. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To 

request more information on this 

proposed information collection or to 

obtain a copy of the proposed and 

associated collection instruments, 

please write to Health Program Analysis 

and Evaluation/TRICARE Management 

Activity, ATTN: LTC Lorraine Babeu 

USA, 5111 Leesburg Pike, Five Skyline 

Place, Suite 510, Falls Church, Virginia 

22041–3206. 

Title; Associated Form; and OMB 

Number: TRICARE Award Fee Provider 

Survey; OMB Control Number 0720– 

TBD. 

Needs and Uses: The information 

collection requirement is necessary to 

obtain and record TRICARE network 

civilian provider-user satisfaction with 

the administrative processes/services of 

managed care support contractors 

(MCSC) in the three TRICARE regions 

within the United States. The survey 

will obtain provider opinions regarding 

claims processing, customer service, 

and administrative support by the 

TRICARE regional contractors. The 

reports of findings from these surveys, 

coupled with performance criteria from 

other sources, will be used by the 

TRICARE Regional Administrative 

Contracting Officers to determine award 

fees. 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households. 

Annual Burden Hours: 50. 

Number of Respondents: 600 (150 

respondents will be surveyed each 

quarter). 

Responses per Respondent: 1. 

Average Burden per Response: 5 

minutes. 

Frequency: Quarterly. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Summary of Information Collection 

The Health Program Analysis and 

Evaluation Directorate (HPA&E) under 

the authority of the Office of the 

Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health 

Affairs)/TRICARE Management Activity 

will undertake a survey of TRICARE 

network providers to ask a series of 

questions regarding satisfaction with the 

TRICARE Health Plan. For these 

purposes, a provider is defined as a 

person, business, or institution that 

provides health care. For example, a 

doctor, hospital, or ambulance company 

is a provider. Providers must be 

authorized under TRICARE regulations 

and have their status certified by the 

regional contractors to provide services 

to TRICARE beneficiaries. 

TRICARE Management Activity, the 

Defense Department activity that 

administers the health care plan for the 

uniformed services, retirees and their 

families, serves more than 9.4 million 

eligible beneficiaries worldwide in the 

Military Health System. TRICARE 

supplements the health care resources 

of the uniformed services with networks 

of civilian professionals to provide highquality health care services while 

maintaining the capability to support 

military operations. The TRICARE 

Management Activity has partnered 

with civilian regional contractors in the 

three U.S regions to provide these 

health care services and support to 

beneficiaries. 

DoD has delegated oversight of the 

civilian provider network to the 

TRICARE Regional Offices. To improve 

DoD’s oversight of the civilian provider 

network, the General Accounting Office 

(GAO) (Defense Health Care: Oversight 

of the Tricare Civilian Provider Network 

Should Be Improved; GAO–03–928; July 

31, 2003) has recommended the 

Assistant Secretary of Defense for 

Health Affairs to explore options for 

improving the civilian provider surveys 

so that the results of the surveys could 

be useful to DoD and to the contractors 

in identifying civilian provider concerns 

and developing actions that might 

mitigate concerns and help ensure the 

adequacy of the civilian provider 

network. 

As a result, the new MCSC 

incorporate an incentive award fee 

component. The determination of the 

award fee is through an evaluation by 

the Government that rewards contractor 

performance that exceeds contract 

requirements. For assessment of awards, 

activities will include, in part, the 

collection and analyses of survey data 

obtained confidentially via telephone 

from network civilian providers within 

U.S. regions. The goal of this survey 

effort is to provide regional 

Administrative Contracting Officers 

with information on provider-user 

satisfaction with the administrative 

processes/services of MCSC. 

Specifically, confidential telephone 

surveys of civilian network providers 

will be conducted that focus on three 

basic business functions provided of 

claims processing, customer service, 

and administrative services by the 

MCSC. 

Dated: October 8, 2009. 

Patricia L. Toppings, 

OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, 

Department of Defense. 

[FR Doc. E9–24886 Filed 10–15–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Office of the Secretary 

Availability of the Fiscal Year 2008 

Washington Headquarters Services 

(WHS) Services Contract Inventory 

AGENCY: Washington Headquarters 

Services, DoD. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with section 

2330a of Title 10 United States Code as 


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