2622 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 10 / Tuesday, January 16, 2024 / Notices 

Jeffrey M. Zirger, 

Lead, Information Collection Review Office, 

Office of Public Health Ethics and 

Regulations, Office of Science, Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2024–00653 Filed 1–12–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services 

[Document Identifier: CMS–10450, CMS– 

10652 and CMS–10540] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Submission for OMB 

Review; Comment Request 

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services, Health and Human 

Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS) is announcing 

an opportunity for the public to 

comment on CMS’ intention to collect 

information from the public. Under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA), federal agencies are required to 

publish notice in the Federal Register 

concerning each proposed collection of 

information, including each proposed 

extension or reinstatement of an existing 

collection of information, and to allow 

a second opportunity for public 

comment on the notice. Interested 

persons are invited to send comments 

regarding the burden estimate or any 

other aspect of this collection of 

information, including the necessity and 

utility of the proposed information 

collection for the proper performance of 

the agency’s functions, the accuracy of 

the estimated burden, ways to enhance 

the quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information to be collected, and the use 

of automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology to 

minimize the information collection 

burden. 

DATES: Comments on the collection(s) of 

information must be received by the 

OMB desk officer by February 15, 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 30-day Review—Open 

for Public Comments’’ or by using the 

search function. 

To obtain copies of a supporting 

statement and any related forms for the 

proposed collection(s) summarized in 

this notice, please access the CMS PRA 

website by copying and pasting the 

following web address into your web 

browser: https://www.cms.gov/ 

Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/ 

PaperworkReductionActof1995/PRAListing. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

William Parham at (410) 786–4669. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) 

(44 U.S.C. 3501–3520), federal agencies 

must obtain approval from the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for each 

collection of information they conduct 

or sponsor. The term ‘‘collection of 

information’’ is defined in 44 U.S.C. 

3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c) and 

includes agency requests or 

requirements that members of the public 

submit reports, keep records, or provide 

information to a third party. Section 

3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA (44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(2)(A)) requires federal agencies 

to publish a 30-day notice in the 

Federal Register concerning each 

proposed collection of information, 

including each proposed extension or 

reinstatement of an existing collection 

of information, before submitting the 

collection to OMB for approval. To 

comply with this requirement, CMS is 

publishing this notice that summarizes 

the following proposed collection(s) of 

information for public comment: 

1. Type of Information Collection 

Request: Extension of a currently 

approved Information Collection; Title 

of Information Collection: Consumer 

Assessment of Healthcare Providers and 

Systems (CAHPS) Survey for Meritbased Incentive Payment Systems 

(MIPS); Use: The CAHPS for MIPS 

survey is used in the Quality Payment 

Program (QPP) to collect data on fee-forservice Medicare beneficiaries’ 

experiences of care with eligible 

clinicians participating in MIPS and is 

designed to gather only the necessary 

data that CMS needs for assessing 

physician quality performance, and 

related public reporting on physician 

performance, and should complement 

other data collection efforts. The survey 

consists of the core Agency for 

Healthcare Research and Quality 

(AHRQ) CAHPS Clinician & Group 

Survey, version 3.0, plus additional 

survey questions to meet CMS’s 

information and program needs. The 

survey information is used for quality 

reporting, the compare tool on the 

Medicare.gov website, and annual 

statistical experience reports describing 

MIPS data for all MIPS eligible 

clinicians. 

This 2024 information collection 

request addresses the requirements 

related to the statutorily required 

quality measurement. The CAHPS for 

MIPS survey results in burden to three 

different types of entities: groups, 

virtual groups, and subgroups; vendors; 

and beneficiaries associated with 

administering the survey. Virtual groups 

are subject to the same requirements as 

groups and subgroups; therefore, we 

will refer only to ‘‘groups’’ as an 

inclusive term for all entities unless 

otherwise noted. Form Number: CMS– 

10450 (OMB control number: 0938– 

1222); Frequency: Yearly; Affected 

Public: Business or other for-profits and 

Not-for-profit institutions and 

Individuals and Households; Number of 

Respondents: 25,536; Total Annual 

Responses: 25,536; Total Annual Hours: 

5,867 (For policy questions regarding 

this collection contact Renee Oneill at 

410–786–8821.) 

2. Type of Information Collection 

Request: Extension of currently 

approved Information Collection; Title 

of Information Collection: Virtual 

Groups for Merit-Based Incentive 

Payment System (MIPS); Use: Section 

1848(q)(5)(I)(ii) of the 2018 Quality 

Payment Program final rule establishes 

that a process must be in place to allow 

an individual MIPS eligible clinician or 

group consisting of not more than 10 

MIPS eligible clinicians to elect, with 

respect to a performance period for a 

year, to be in a virtual group with at 

least one other such individual MIPS 

eligible clinician or group. Section 

1848(q)(5)(I)(iii) of the Act establishes 

the following requirements that pertain 

to an election process: (1) individual 

eligible clinicians and groups forming 

virtual groups are required to make the 

election prior to the start of the 

applicable performance period under 

MIPS and cannot change their election 

during the performance period; (2) an 

individual eligible clinician or group 

may elect to be in no more than one 

virtual group for a performance period 

and in the case of the group electing to 

be in a virtual group for the performance 

period, the election applies to all 

eligible clinicians in the group; (3) a 

virtual group is a combination of TINs; 

(4) formal written agreements are 

required among the eligible clinicians 

(includes individual eligible clinicians 

and eligible clinicians within the 

groups) electing to be a virtual group; 

and (5) the Secretary has the authority 

to include other requirements 

determined appropriate. 

Section 1848(q)(5)(I)(i) of the Act also 

provides that MIPS eligible clinicians 

electing to be a virtual group must: (1) 

have their performance assessed for the 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 10 / Tuesday, January 16, 2024 / Notices 2623 

quality and cost performance categories 

in a manner that applies the combined 

performance of all the MIPS eligible 

clinicians in the virtual group to each 

MIPS eligible clinician in the virtual 

group for the applicable performance 

period; and (2) be scored for the quality 

and cost performance categories based 

on such assessment. Form Number: 

CMS–10652 (OMB control number: 

0938–1343); Frequency: Yearly; 

Affected Public: Individuals and 

Households, Private Sector, Business or 

other for-profits and Not-for-profit 

institutions; Number of Respondents: 

16; Total Annual Responses: 16; Total 

Annual Hours: 160 (For policy 

questions regarding this collection 

contact Renee O’Neill at 410–786–8821.) 

3. Type of Information Collection 

Request: Revision of a currently 

approved collection. Title of 

Information Collection: Quality 

Improvement Strategy Implementation 

Plan, Progress Report, and Modification 

Summary Supplement Forms. Use: 

Section 1311(c)(1)(E) of the Affordable 

Care Act requires qualified health plans 

(QHPs) offered through an Exchange 

must implement a quality improvement 

strategy (QIS) as described in section 

1311(g)(1). Section 1311(g)(3) of the 

Affordable Care Act specifies the 

guidelines under Section 1311(g)(2) 

shall require the periodic reporting to 

the applicable Exchange the activities 

that a qualified health plan has 

conducted to implement a strategy as 

described in section 1311(g)(1). CMS 

intends to have QHP issuers complete 

the appropriate QIS forms annually for 

implementation and progress reporting 

of their quality improvement strategies. 

The QIS forms will include topics to 

assess an issuer’s compliance in creating 

a payment structure that provides 

increased reimbursement or other 

incentives to improve the health 

outcomes of plan enrollees, prevent 

hospital readmissions, improve patient 

safety and reduce medical errors, 

promote wellness and health, and 

reduce health and health care 

disparities, as described in Section 

1311(g)(1) of the Affordable Care Act. 

The QIS forms will allow: (1) the 

Department of Health & Human Services 

(HHS) to evaluate the compliance and 

adequacy of QHP issuers’ quality 

improvement efforts, as required by 

Section 1311(c) of the Affordable Care 

Act, and (2) HHS will use the issuers’ 

validated information to evaluate the 

issuers’ quality improvement strategies 

for compliance with the requirements of 

Section 1311(g) of the Affordable Care 

Act. Form Number: CMS–10540 (OMB 

control number: 0938–1286); Frequency: 

Annually; Affected Public: Public sector 

(Individuals and Households), Private 

sector (Business or other for-profits and 

not-for-profit institutions); Number of 

Respondents: 250; Total Annual 

Responses: 250; Annual Hours: 4,933. 

(For policy questions regarding this 

collection, contact Preeti Hans at 301– 

492–1444). 

Dated: January 10, 2024. 

William N. Parham, III 

Director, Division of Information Collections 

and Regulatory Impacts, Office of Strategic 

Operations and Regulatory Affairs. 

[FR Doc. 2024–00657 Filed 1–12–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Administration for Children and 

Families 

Expedited Office of Management and 

Budget Review and Public Comment: 

Office of Community Services 

Affordable Housing and Supportive 

Services Demonstration Data 

Collection (New Collection) 

AGENCY: Office of Community Services, 

Administration for Children and 

Families, U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services 

ACTION: Request for public comments. 

SUMMARY: The Office of Community 

Services (OCS), Administration for 

Children and Families (ACF), U.S. 

Department of Health and Human 

Services (HHS), is requesting expedited 

review of an information collection 

request from the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) and inviting public 

comments on the proposed collection. 

The Affordable Housing and Supportive 

Services Demonstration was 

appropriated by the Departments of 

Labor, Health and Human Services, and 

Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 

2023 through the Social Services 

Research Demonstration program 

(SSRD). The House report language 

directs ACF to provide a report on the 

findings of this demonstration within 1 

year after grants are awarded. ACF is 

soliciting public comment within the 

next 30 days and requesting expedited 

approval from OMB to collect 

information to study the 

implementation of this demonstration 

program to inform this report. Following 

initial approval, ACF will request an 

extension of approval within 6 months. 

This extension process will include 

additional commenting opportunities. 

DATES: Comments due within February 

15, 2024. In compliance with the 

requirements of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, ACF is soliciting 

public comment on the specific aspects 

of the information collection described 

in this notice. 

ADDRESSES: Copies of the proposed 

collection of information can be 

obtained and comments may be 

submitted by emailing infocollection@

acf.hhs.gov. Identify all by the title of 

the information collection. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Description: ACF is requesting that 

OMB grant a 180-day approval for this 

request under procedures for expedited 

processing. A request for review under 

normal procedures will be submitted 

within 180 days of the approval for this 

request. Given the Congressional 

directive for a report on the Affordable 

Housing and Supportive Services 

Demonstration within 1 year, OCS has 

prepared data collection instruments to 

study the implementation of this 

demonstration program with the intent 

to produce a robust report to Congress. 

Under normal circumstances, OCS 

would submit the data collection 

instruments through a standard 

information collection request with 

OMB. However, the short timeframe 

attached to the Congressional directive 

make it reasonably likely that the use of 

normal clearance procedures to comply 

with the Paperwork Reduction Act 

would cause this Congressional 

deadline to be missed. If OCS were to 

proceed with the normal timeline for 

OMB review and approval, OCS would 

be unable to collect, clean, analyze, and 

consolidate program data such that it 

would be accessible for the report to 

Congress due within 1 year. Thus, OCS 

is requesting emergency OMB approval 

of this data collection to ensure we can 

accommodate the Congressional request 

for a report on the findings of this 

demonstration within 1 year. OCS is 

hoping to center the study around three 

main research categories— 

implementation of supportive services 

in affordable housing, changes in 

participant access to supportive services 

in affordable housing, and overall 

participant experience and outcomes 

along several variables of interest. 

Ultimately, OCS hopes to illustrate how 

supportive services are implemented in 

affordable housing spaces by program 

directors and caseworkers, and also 

demonstrate participant experiences 

accessing those services in the 

affordable housing setting, as well as 

which services and supports worked to 

improve resident well-being and overall 

self-sufficiency. To answer these 

research questions, OCS will engage in 

the following activities: 


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