Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 83 /Thursday, April 30, 1998 / Notices 23791

to determine whether it continues to

meet these requirements. There is an

alternative, however, to surveys by State

agencies.

Section 1865(b) of the Act permits

‘‘accredited’’ ASCs to be exempt from

routine surveys by State survey agencies

to determine compliance with Medicare

requirements. Section 1865(b)(1) of the

Act provides that if the Secretary finds

that accreditation of a provider entity by

a national accreditation body

demonstrates that all of the applicable

conditions and requirements are met,

the Secretary would deem those

provider entities as meeting the

applicable Medicare requirements.

Hence, if the Secretary finds that the

accreditation of an ASC by a national

accreditation body demonstrates that all

the Medicare conditions and standards

are met or exceeded, then the Secretary

‘‘deems’’ the requirements to be met by

the ASC. Our regulations concerning

approval of accrediting organizations

are at §§ 488.4, 488.6, and 488.8. A

national accrediting organization starts

the process by requesting that the

Secretary recognize its accreditation

program. To date, two organizations

have been recognized with deeming

authority for their ASC programs: the

Joint Commission on Accreditation of

Healthcare Organizations and the

Accreditation Association for

Ambulatory Health Care.

II. Approval of Accreditation

Organization

The purpose of this notice is to notify

the public of the request of the

American Association for Accreditation

of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, Inc.

(AAAASF) for approval of its request

that the Secretary find its accreditation

program for ambulatory surgical centers

meets or exceeds the Medicare

conditions. This notice also solicits

public comment on the ability of this

body’s requirements to meet or exceed

the Medicare conditions for coverage.

Section 1865(b)(2) of the Act requires

that the Secretary’s findings consider

the applying accreditation

organization’s requirements for

accreditation, its survey procedures, its

ability to provide adequate resources for

conducting required surveys and ability

to supply information for use in

enforcement activities, its monitoring

procedures for provider entities found

out of compliance with the conditions

or requirements, and its ability to

provide the Secretary with necessary

data for validation.

Section 1865(b)(3)(A) of the Act

requires that the Secretary publish

within 60 days of the receipt of a

completed application, a notice

identifying the national accreditation

body making the request, describing the

nature of the request, and providing at

least a 30 day public comment period.

In addition, the Secretary has 210 days

from the receipt of the request to

publish a finding of approval or denial

of the application.

This notice also solicits public

comment on the ability of this body’s

requirements to meet or exceed the

Medicare conditions of coverage.

III. Evaluation of Deeming Request

On November 18, 1997, the AAAASF

submitted all the necessary information

concerning their request for a finding by

the Secretary that its accreditation

program met or exceeded the Medicare

conditions. Under section 1865(b)(2) of

the Act and our regulations at § 488.8

(‘‘Federal review of accreditation

organizations’’) our review and

evaluation of AAAASF is being

conducted in accordance with, but not

necessarily limited to, the following

factors:

• The equivalency of AAAASF’s

requirements for an ASC to our

comparable requirements for the ASC.

• AAAASF’s survey process to

determine the following:

—The composition of the survey team,

surveyor qualifications, and the

ability of the organization to provide

continuing surveyor training.

—The comparability of its processes to

that of State agencies, including

survey frequency, and the ability to

investigate and respond appropriately

to complaints against accredited

facilities.

—The organization’s procedures for

monitoring providers or suppliers

found by the organization to be out of

compliance with program

requirements. These monitoring

procedures are used only when the

organization identifies

noncompliance. If noncompliance is

identified through validation reviews,

the survey agency monitors

corrections as specified at

§ 488.7(b)(3).

• The ability of the organization to

report deficiencies to the surveyed

facilities and respond to the facility’s

plan of correction in a timely manner.

• The ability of AAAASF to provide

us with electronic data in ASCII

comparable code and reports necessary

for effective validation and assessment

of the organization’s survey process.

• The adequacy of AAAASF’s staff

and other resources, and its financial

viability.

• AAAASF’s ability to provide

adequate funding for performing

required surveys.

• AAAASF’s policies with respect to

whether surveys are announced or

unannounced.

• AAAASF’s agreement to provide us

with a copy of the most current

accreditation survey together with any

other information related to the survey

as we may require (including corrective

action plans).

IV. Notice Upon Completion of

Evaluation

Upon completion of our evaluation,

including evaluation of comments

received as a result of this notice, we

will publish a notice in the Federal

Register announcing the result of our

evaluation.

V. Responses to Public Comments

Because of the large number of

comments we normally receive on

Federal Register documents published

for comment, we are not able to

acknowledge or respond to them

individually. We will consider all

comments we receive by the date and

time specified in the DATES section of

this preamble and will respond to them

in a forthcoming rulemaking document.

(Authority: Section 1865 of the Social

Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395bb)

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Program No. 93.778, Medical Assistance

Program; No. 93.773 Medicare—Hospital

Insurance Program; and No. 93.774,

Medicare—Supplementary Medical

Insurance Program)

Dated: April 6, 1998.

Nancy-Ann Min DeParle,

Administrator, Health Care Financing

Administration.

[FR Doc. 98–11491 Filed 4–29–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4120–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND

URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR–4351–N–04]

Office of Policy Development and

Research; Notice of Proposed

Information Collection for Public

Comment

AGENCY: Office of Policy Development

and Research, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The proposed information

collection requirement described below

will be submitted to the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) for

review, as required by the Paperwork

Reduction Act. The Department is

soliciting public comments on the

subject proposal.

DATES: Comments due: June 29, 1998.
23792 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 83 /Thursday, April 30, 1998 / Notices

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are

invited to submit comments regarding

this proposal. Comments should refer to

the proposal by name and/or OMB

Control Number and should be sent to:

Reports Liaison Officer, Office of Policy

Development and Research, Department

of Housing and Urban Development

451—7th Street, SW, Room 8226,

Washington, DC 20410.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Contact Priscila J. Prunella, 202–708–

3700, extension 5711 (this is not a toll

free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Department will submit the proposed

information collection to OMB for

review, as required by the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.

Chapter 35, as amended).

This Notice is soliciting comments

from members of the public and

affecting agencies concerning the

proposed collection of information to:

(1) Evaluate 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) Evaluate the

accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the

burden of proposed collection of

information; (3) Enhance the quality,

utility, and clarity of the information to

be collected; and (4) Minimize the

burden of the collection of information

on those who are to respond; including

through the use of appropriate

automated collection techniques or

other forms of information technology,

e.g., permitting electronic submission of

responses.

This Notice also lists the following

information:

Title of Proposal: Neighborhood

Networks Evaluation.

Description of the need for

information and proposed use: The

Department is conducting under

contract the evaluation of its new

initiative—Neighborhood Networks—to:

document the extent to which onsite

access to computers and training

resources in the Neighborhood Network

Centers influences the self-sufficiency,

employability, and economic selfreliance of low-income families living in

HUD-insured and -assisted properties;

and, characterize the composition and

performance of the centers.

Members of the affected public:

Residents of the HUD-insured and

assisted properties who use the

computer learning centers and computer

learning center managers and/or staff.

Estimation of the total number of

hours needed to prepare the information

collection including number of

respondents, frequency of response, and

hours of response: The researchers will:

(1) Survey 150 computer learning center

managers twice; the interviews are

expected to last 40 minutes; (2) Survey

computer learning center clients in

three waves—the first wave will cover

an initial sample of 350 clients, the

second wave will cover fewer clients

(approximately 275 clients), and the last

wave no fewer than 200 clients; the

interviews will last approximately 30

minutes; and (3) Conduct site visits at

9 sites at three separate time periods,

coinciding with the client interviews, to

interview center staff; the interviews

will last approximately one hour.

Status of the proposed information

collection: Pending OMB approval.

Authority: Section 3506 of the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35,

as amended.

Dated: April 20, 1998.

Paul A. Leonard,

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy

Development.

[FR Doc. 98–11494 Filed 4–29–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4210–62–M

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND

URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR–4356–N–02]

Notice of Proposed Information

Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant

Secretary for Housing, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The proposed information

collection requirement described below

will be submitted to the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) for

review, as required by the Paperwork

Reduction Act. The Department is

soliciting public comments on the

subject proposal.

DATES: Comments due date: June 29,

1998.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are

invited to submit comments regarding

this proposal. Comments should refer to

the proposal by name and/or OMB

Control Number and should be sent to:

Wayne Eddins, Reports Liaison Officer,

Department of Housing and Urban

Development, 451 7th Street, SW, Room

4176, Washington, DC 20410.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Lester J. West, Director, Albany

Financial Operations Center, telephone

number 518–464–4200 extension 4206

(this is not a toll-free number) for copies

of the proposed forms and other

available documents.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Department is submitting the proposed

information collection to OMB for

review, as required by the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.

Chapter 35, as amended).

This Notice is soliciting comments

from members of the public and

affecting agencies concerning the

proposed collection of information to:

(1) Evaluate 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) Evaluate the

accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the

burden of the proposed collection of

information; (3) Enhance the quality,

utility, and clarity of the information to

be collected; and (4) Minimize the

burden of the collection of information

on those who are to respond; including

through the use of appropriate

automated collection techniques or

other forms of information technology,

e.g., permitting electronic submission of

responses.

This Notice also lists the following

information:

Title of Proposal: Repayment

Agreement.

OMB Control Number, if applicable:

2502–0483.

Description of the need for the

information and proposed use: Once a

Debt Servicing Representative has a

clear understanding of the debtor’s

attitude about repayment of the debt

and the debtor’s ability to repay the

debt, attempts should be made to secure

a signed repayment agreement.

Agency form numbers, if applicable:

HUD–56146.

Members of affected public:

Individuals or households.

Estimation of the total numbers of

hours needed to prepare the information

collection including number of

respondents, frequency of response, and

hours of response:

Number of respondents: 1,258.

Frequency of response: On

occasion.

Total hours of response requested:

1.

Status of the proposed information

collection: Extension of a currently

approved collection.

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act

of 1995, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended.

Dated: April 24, 1998.

Art Agnos,

Acting Assistant Secretary for HousingFederal Housing Commissioner.

[FR Doc. 98–11495 Filed 4–29–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4210–27–M