This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

36160 

Vol. 78, No. 116 

Monday, June 17, 2013 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

June 11, 2013. 

The Department of Agriculture has 

submitted the following information 

collection requirement(s) to OMB for 

review and clearance under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

Public Law 104–13. Comments 

regarding (a) Whether the collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate 

of burden including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; (c) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; (d) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

through the use of appropriate 

automated, electronic, mechanical, or 

other technological collection 

techniques and other forms of 

information technology. 

Comments regarding this information 

collection received by July 17, 2013 will 

be considered. Written comments 

should be addressed to: Desk Officer for 

Agriculture, Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB), New 

Executive Office Building, 725—17th 

Street NW., Washington, DC, 20503. 

Commentors are encouraged to submit 

their comments to OMB via email to: 

OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov or fax 

(202) 395–5806 and to Departmental 

Clearance Office, USDA, OCIO, Mail 

Stop 7602, Washington, DC 20250– 

7602. Copies of the submission(s) may 

be obtained by calling (202) 720–8681. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor a collection of information 

unless the collection of information 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number and the agency informs 

potential persons who are to respond to 

the collection of information that such 

persons are not required to respond to 

the collection of information unless it 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number. 

Forest Service 

Title: National Visitor Use 

Monitoring, and Customer and Use 

Survey Techniques for Operations, 

Management, Evaluation, and Research. 

OMB Control Number: 0596–0110. 

Summary of Collection: The National 

Forest Management Act (NFMA) of 1976 

and the Government Performance and 

Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) require a 

comprehensive assessment of present 

and anticipated uses, demand for and 

supply of renewable resources from the 

nation’s public and private forests and 

rangelands. An important element in the 

reporting is the number of visits to 

National Forests and Grasslands, as well 

as to Wilderness Areas that the agency 

manages. The Forest Service and 

Department of Interior agencies will use 

the National Visitor Use Monitoring 

(NVUM) survey to collect the 

information. 

Need and Use of the Information: The 

Customer and Use Survey Techniques 

for Operations, Management, Evaluation 

and Research (CUSTOMER) study 

combines several different survey 

approaches to gather data describing 

visitors to and users of public recreation 

lands, including their trip activities, 

satisfaction levels, evaluations, 

demographic profiles, trip 

characteristics, spending, and annual 

visitation patterns. FS will use face-toface interviewing for collecting 

information on-site as well as English 

and Spanish written survey instruments 

to be mailed back by respondents. The 

NVUM results and data are a source of 

data and information in addressing 

forest land management planning, 

national strategic planning, service to 

minorities, and identification of a 

forest’s recreation niche. 

Description of Respondents: 

Individuals or households. 

Number of Respondents: 61,080. 

Frequency of Responses: Reporting; 

Quarterly; Annually. 

Total Burden Hours: 8,994. 

Charlene Parker, 

Departmental Information Collection 

Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2013–14259 Filed 6–14–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Economic Research Service 

Notice of Intent To Request New 

Information Collection 

AGENCY: Economic Research Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. Chapter 35), this notice 

announces the Economic Research 

Service’s intention to request approval 

for a new information collection for a 

Survey on Rural Community Wealth 

and Health Care Provision. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

August 16, 2013 to be assured of 

consideration. 

ADDRESSES: Address all comments 

concerning this notice to John Pender, 

Resource and Rural Economics Division, 

Economic Research Service, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, 1400 

Independence Ave. SW., Mailstop 1800, 

Washington, DC 20250–0002. 

Comments may also be submitted via 

fax to the attention of John Pender at 

202–694–5773 or via email to 

jpender@ers.usda.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John 

Pender, jpender@ers.usda.gov. Tel. 202– 

694–5568. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Survey on Rural Community 

Wealth and Health Care Provision. 

OMB Number: To be assigned by 

OMB. 

Expiration Date: Three years from the 

date of approval. 

Type of Request: New information 

collection. 

Abstract: The primary purpose of the 

proposed survey is to collect 

information on how rural small towns 

can attract and retain primary health 

care providers, considering the broad 

range of assets and amenities that may 

attract providers. The secondary 

purpose is to provide information on 

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 116 / Monday, June 17, 2013 / Notices 36161 

how improving health care may affect 

economic development prospects of 

rural small towns. The Economic 

Research Service (ERS) intends to 

address these purposes by collecting 

primary data from health care providers 

and community leaders in 150 rural 

small towns in nine states in three 

regions: Mississippi, Louisiana, and 

Arkansas (representing the Mississippi 

Delta region); Texas, Oklahoma, and 

Kansas (Southern Great Plains region); 

and Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin 

(Upper Midwest region). 

This information will contribute to 

improved understanding of the roles 

that rural communities play in attracting 

and retaining health care providers, and 

of how improved health care provision 

contributes to economic development of 

these communities. Such understanding 

is critical to develop effective policies 

and local strategies to address the 

challenge of inadequate access to health 

care services in many rural 

communities, and to realize the 

opportunities offered by improved 

health care provision to attract and keep 

residents and businesses in rural areas, 

provide employment, and improve the 

quality of life. 

The study will focus on small rural 

towns (population 2,500 to 20,000) 

because it is expected that the ability to 

attract and retain health care providers 

is most likely to be affected by local 

assets and amenities for such towns. 

The universe of small towns in the three 

regions selected include about 9 percent 

of the rural population of the United 

States and represent considerable 

diversity in levels of economic 

development and access to health care 

services. The set of 150 small towns 

included in the study will be selected 

using a probability based sample, so that 

the information collected will be 

representative of this universe of rural 

small towns in the nine states. 

Although much research has 

investigated the problems of attracting 

and retaining health care providers in 

rural areas, very little research addresses 

the relationships between economic 

development and health care provision 

in rural areas. Virtually no research 

addresses the issue from the perspective 

of rural communities themselves, 

investigating whether and how rural 

communities seek to attract and keep 

health care providers, and how they 

think this influences their economic 

development prospects. The proposed 

information collection will address this 

information gap. It will consist of three 

phases: (1) Key informant telephone 

interviews with select local government 

leaders and health care administrators 

in the study towns; (2) a dual mode 

telephone/mail survey of primary health 

care providers in the towns; and (3) 

follow up focus groups and/or in-person 

key informant interviews in a subset of 

selected towns. The information 

collected will be augmented by publicly 

available secondary information on 

health care provision and economic 

development in the study regions. 

The objectives of the initial key 

informant interviews with local 

government leaders and health care 

administrators are to collect or verify 

information assembled from secondary 

sources on (i) which health care services 

and providers are available in the town, 

(ii) how provision of health care 

services in the town has changed in the 

past five years, (iii) the extent to which 

recruiting and retaining health care 

providers is seen as a priority by leaders 

in the town, (iv) what efforts have been 

made to recruit and retain providers, 

and (v) perceived impacts of these 

efforts on aspects of economic 

development in the town. Key 

informant interviews will be conducted 

with up to four individuals, including at 

least one representative of the local 

government—either the chief executive 

officer (mayor or city/town manager) or 

a knowledgeable representative 

designated by that officer—and the 

administrator of at least one primary 

health care facility (hospital or clinic), 

if such facilities are available, in the 

town. If a hospital or clinic is not 

available in the town, other informants 

with knowledge about health care in the 

town will be sought. Semi-structured 

interviews will be used, and are 

expected to last up to 60 minutes each. 

The key informant interviews will be 

conducted before the telephone/mail 

survey of health care providers, since 

they will help to validate the sample 

frame of providers and may yield 

information useful in the design of the 

provider survey. 

The dual mode telephone/mail survey 

will investigate the perspective of 

primary health care providers in rural 

small towns on the factors affecting 

their decisions to locate, continue and 

change their operations in these rural 

communities, including the influence of 

community assets and amenities. The 

target population of health care 

providers includes primary care 

physicians, physician assistants, nurse 

practitioners, certified nurse midwives, 

and dentists. A random sample of up to 

8 health care providers will be surveyed 

in each sample town. The telephone 

interviews are expected to average about 

20 minutes per respondent, based upon 

cognitive interviews testing a draft of 

the survey instrument with three rural 

health care providers. Paper copies of 

the survey will be mailed to those who 

are unable or unwilling to complete a 

telephone interview. It is expected that 

the paper surveys will also require 

about 20 minutes to complete. 

After the provider survey and analysis 

of its results are completed, focus 

groups and/or follow up key informant 

interviews (possibly including some of 

the people interviewed during the 

initial key informant interviews) will be 

conducted in person in a sub-sample of 

the surveyed communities (at most 40), 

with the goal of deepening 

understanding of (i) how and why the 

community factors that appear to 

influence recruitment and retention of 

health care providers (as will be 

identified by the telephone survey) are 

able to do so, and (ii) how development 

of the health care sector contributes to 

broader economic development in rural 

communities. The communities 

included in this phase of the study will 

be purposefully selected to be 

representative of different conditions 

with regard to region, access to health 

care providers, and level of economic 

development. Participants will be 

individuals knowledgeable about health 

care and/or economic development 

issues in the community, including 

representatives of local government, the 

business sector, the non-profit sector, 

and the health care industry. Current 

plans are to conduct at least one focus 

group with up to 10 participants in each 

of the sub-sample of communities, with 

one-on-one semi-structured interviews 

as circumstances require. We expect to 

interview no more than 12 people per 

community regardless of whether one or 

more focus groups or one-on-one 

interviews are conducted. It is 

anticipated that each focus group and 

one-on-one interview will last 60 

minutes. A semi-structured instrument 

will be used to guide these focus groups 

and interviews. 

All study instruments will be kept as 

simple and respondent-friendly as 

possible. Participation in the interviews 

will be voluntary and confidential. 

Survey responses will be used for 

statistical analysis and to produce 

research reports only; not for any other 

purpose. Responses will be linked to 

secondary data to augment information 

with no additional respondent burden. 

For example, the survey data will be 

combined with available town and 

county level data from the Census 

Bureau on community socioeconomic 

and demographic characteristics and 

data from the Department of Health and 

Human Services on health care 

provision, to analyze factors affecting 

local changes in health care provision. 

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36162 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 116 / Monday, June 17, 2013 / Notices 

Authority: These data will be collected 

under the authority of 7 U.S.C. 2204(a) and 

7 U.S.C. 2661. ERS will comply with OMB 

Implementation Guidance, ‘‘Implementation 

Guidance for Title V of the E-Government 

Act, Confidential Information Protection and 

Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA)’’, 

72 FR 33362, June 15, 2007. Respondent 

information will be protected under the 

CIPSEA and the 7 U.S.C. 2276. 

Estimate of Burden: Public reporting 

burden for this collection of information 

is estimated to average 0.91 hours per 

response. 

Type of Respondents: Respondents to 

the first phase key informant telephone 

interviews will include chief executive 

officers (or their designated 

representatives) of the towns, 

administrators of health care facilities 

(in towns having such facilities), or 

other individuals knowledgeable about 

health care (particularly in towns not 

having such facilities) in the 150 rural 

small towns selected for the study. 

Respondents in the second phase 

telephone survey will include primary 

health care providers in the selected 

towns, including primary care 

physicians, physician assistants, nurse 

practitioners, certified nurse midwives, 

and dentists. Respondents in the third 

phase focus groups and in-person key 

informant interviews will include 

representatives of local government, the 

local health care industry, businesses, 

and non-profit organizations concerned 

with health care and/or economic 

development. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: (i) 

Key informant telephone interviews: 4 

respondents per community × 150 

communities = 600 respondents 

(assuming 67% response rate); (ii) 

Telephone/mail survey of health care 

providers: 8 respondents per 

community (assuming 80% response 

rate) × 150 communities = 1,200 

respondents; (iii) Focus group 

participants and key informant 

interviews: 12 respondents per 

community × 40 communities = 480 

respondents (assuming 80% response 

rate). Total number of respondents = 

2,280. Total number of non-respondents 

= 720. 

Estimated Number of Responses: 

2,280 from respondents, 720 refusals 

from non-respondents. 

Estimated Number of Responses per 

Respondent: 1.08 maximum, if all 

respondents in first phase key informant 

interviews participate in third phase 

focus groups/interviews. 

Estimated Total Burden on 

Respondents: 2,730 hours (see table for 

details). 

REPORTING BURDEN

Description 

Estimated 

number of 

respondents or 

non-respondents 

Responses or 

non-responses 

per respondent 

Total 

responses or 

non-responses 

Estimated 

average 

number of 

minutes per 

response or 

non-response 

Estimated total 

hours of 

response and 

non-response 

burden 

Phase 1: Key informant telephone interviews 

Identify and contact key informants—admin. Staff .. 900 1 900 10 150 

Respondents review request and decide ................ 600 1 600 15 150 

Key informant interviews .......................................... 600 1 600 60 600 

Non-respondents review request and decline ......... 300 1 300 15 75 

Phase 2: Telephone/Mail surveys with health care providers 

Identify and contact respondents ............................. 1500 1 1500 10 250 

Respondents review request ................................... 1200 1 1200 15 300 

Telephone/Mail surveys ........................................... 1200 1 1200 20 400 

Non-respondents review request and decline ......... 300 1 300 15 75 

Phase 3: Focus group and in-person key informant interviews 

Identify and contact participants .............................. 600 1 600 10 100 

Participants review request ...................................... 480 1 480 15 120 

Focus groups & key informant interviews ............... 480 1 480 60 480 

Non-respondents review request and decline ......... 120 1 120 15 30 

Total Burden ..................................................... ............................ ............................ ............................ ........................ 2,730 

Comments: Comments are invited on: 

(1) Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(2) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate 

of the burden of the proposed collection 

of information including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used; 

(3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, 

and clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (4) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

the use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Comments may be sent to John Pender, 

Resource and Rural Economics Division, 

Economic Research Service, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, 1400 

Independence Ave. SW., Mailstop 1800, 

Washington, DC 20250–0002. 

Comments may also be submitted via 

fax to the attention of John Pender at 

202–694–5773 or via email to 

jpender@ers.usda.gov. All comments 

received will be available for public 

inspection during regular business 

hours at the same address. 

All responses to this notice will be 

summarized and included in the request 

for OMB approval. All comments will 

become a matter of public record. 

Dated: June 10, 2013. 

Mary Bohman, 

Administrator, Economic Research Service. 

[FR Doc. 2013–14202 Filed 6–14–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–18–P 

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