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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 11 (Friday, January 17, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5913-5915]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01150]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration

Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for 
Review and Approval; Public Comment Request; Maternal and Child Health 
Jurisdictional Survey Instrument for the Title V MCH Block Grant 
Program

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department 
of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, HRSA 
submitted an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. Comments submitted 
during the first public review of this ICR will be provided to OMB. OMB 
will accept further comments from the public during the review and 
approval period. OMB may act on HRSA's ICR only after the 30-day 
comment period for this notice has closed.

DATES: Comments on this ICR should be received no later than February 
18, 2025.

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 Review--Open for 
Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request a copy of the clearance 
requests submitted to OMB for review, email Joella Roland, the HRSA 
Information Collection Clearance Officer, at

[[Page 5914]]

[email protected] or call (301) 443-3983.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Information Collection Request Title: Maternal and Child Health 
Jurisdictional Survey Instrument for the Title V MCH Block Grant 
Program, OMB No. 0906-0042--Revision.
    Abstract: The purpose of the Title V Maternal and Child Health 
(MCH) Services Block Grant is to improve the health of the nation's 
mothers, infants, children, including children with special health care 
needs, and their families by creating Federal/State partnerships that 
provide each State/jurisdiction with needed flexibility to respond to 
its individual MCH population needs. Unique to the MCH Block Grant is a 
commitment to performance accountability, while assuring State 
flexibility. Using a three-tiered national performance measure 
framework, which includes National Outcome Measures, National 
Performance Measures, and Evidence-Based and -Informed Strategy 
Measures, State MCH Block Grant programs report annually on their 
performance relative to the selected national performance and outcome 
measures. Such reporting enables the State and Federal program offices 
to assess the progress achieved in key MCH priority areas and to 
document MCH Block Grant program accomplishments.
    By legislation (section 505(a) and 506(a) of title V of the Social 
Security Act), the MCH Block Grant Application/Annual Report must be 
developed by, or in consultation with, the State MCH health agency. In 
establishing State reporting requirements, HRSA considers the 
availability of national data from Federal agencies. Data for the 
National Performance and Outcome Measures are pre-populated for States 
in the Title V Information System. Such national data sources often do 
not include data from the title V jurisdiction grantees, with the 
exception of the District of Columbia. As a result, the eight remaining 
jurisdictions (i.e., American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of Palau, Puerto Rico, the 
Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, 
and U.S. Virgin Islands) have limited access to significant data and 
MCH indicators, with limited resources for collecting these data.
    Sponsored by HRSA, the MCH Jurisdictional Survey is designed to 
produce data on the physical and emotional health of mothers and 
children under 18 years of age in the following eight jurisdictions: 
American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
the Republic of Palau, Puerto Rico, the Republic of the Marshall 
Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and U.S. Virgin Islands. 
More specifically, the MCH Jurisdictional Survey collects information 
on factors related to the well-being of children, including health 
status, visits to health care providers, health care costs, and health 
insurance coverage. In addition, the MCH Jurisdictional Survey collects 
information on factors related to the well-being of mothers, including 
health risk behaviors, health conditions, and preventive health 
practices. Collecting these data will enable the jurisdictions to meet 
Federal performance reporting requirements and demonstrate the impact 
of MCH Block Grant funding on MCH outcomes.
    The MCH Jurisdictional Survey was designed based on information-
gathering activities with title V leadership and program staff in the 
jurisdictions, Federal experts, and organizations with relevant data 
collection experience. Survey items are based on the National Survey of 
Children's Health, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the 
Youth Behavior Surveillance System, and selected other Federal studies. 
The Survey is designed as a core questionnaire to be administered 
across all jurisdictions with a supplemental set of survey questions 
customized to the needs of each jurisdiction.
    The MCH Jurisdictional Survey has been conducted annually since 
2019, with several modifications to address emerging issues and 
challenges related to survey questions and methods. The 2022 extension 
(ICR 202203-0906-002) enhanced the detail in collecting demographic 
data through race and ethnicity survey questions in response to 
jurisdictional feedback. Since the 2022 extension, two non-substantive 
change requests (ICRs: 202211-0906-001, and 202404-0906-002) allowed 
for adjustments, such as refining hurricane-related questions, to make 
them more general and increasing sample sizes.
    A 60-day notice published in the Federal Register on October 31, 
2024, 89 FR 86822 and 86823. There were no public comments.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: There is an ongoing need 
for future data collections, as data from the MCH Jurisdictional Survey 
is used to measure progress on national performance and outcome 
measures under the Title V MCH Services Block Grant Program. This 
survey instrument is critical to collect information on factors related 
to the well-being of all mothers, children, and their families in the 
jurisdiction MCH Block Grant programs, which address their unique MCH 
needs.
    This revision enables continued data collection for Federal 
reporting and to show the impact of MCH Block Grant funding on 
jurisdiction MCH priorities. The current request proposes further 
updates to survey questions to align with new Federal data standards, 
including updated guidance from OMB on collecting information on race 
and ethnicity.\1\ Updates also reflect program oversight and 
administration needs.
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    \1\ Office of Management and Budget, ``Revisions to OMB's 
Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, 
Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity,'' 
Federal Register, 89 FR 22182 through 22190 (March 29, 2024), 
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/03/29/2024-06469/revisions-to-ombs-statistical-policy-directive-no-15-standards-for-maintaining-collecting-and/.
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    To continue improving the precision of the data in all 
jurisdictions, HRSA also seeks to increase the sample size. Given the 
varying populations of children in each jurisdiction, the increased 
sample size varies for each jurisdiction. While the target number of 
interviews for each jurisdiction may be limited by funding, the maximum 
number of completed interviews possible for each jurisdiction is as 
follows: American Samoa, 450; Guam, 450; Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands, 500; Republic of Palau, 250; Puerto Rico, 1,250; 
Republic of the Marshall Islands, 300; Federated States of Micronesia, 
450; and U.S. Virgin Islands, 350.
    Likely Respondents: The respondent universe is women age 18 or 
older who live in one of the eight targeted jurisdictions and who are 
mothers or guardians of at least one child aged 0-17 years living in 
the same household.
    Burden Statement: Burden in this context means the time expended by 
persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose, or provide the 
information requested. This includes the time needed to review 
instructions; to develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and 
systems for the purpose of collecting, validating, and verifying 
information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and 
providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to 
a collection of information; to search data sources; to complete and 
review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise 
disclose the information. The total annual burden

[[Page 5915]]

hours estimated for this ICR are summarized in the table below.

                                                         Total Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                                              Average
                                                             Number of       Number of         Total        burden per     Burden hours    Total burden
        Type of  respondent               Form name         respondents    responses per     responses     response  (in     per form          hours
                                                                            respondent                        hours)
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Adults--Puerto Rico...............  Screener............           5,205               1           5,205            0.03          156.15        1,093.65
                                    Core................           1,250               1           1,250            0.75          937.50
Adults--U.S. Virgin Islands.......  Screener............           1,457               1           1,457            0.03           43.71          288.71
                                    Core................             350               1             350            0.70             245
Adults--Guam......................  Screener............           1,334               1           1,334            0.03           40.02          337.02
                                    Core................             450               1             450            0.66             297
Adults--American Samoa............  Screener............             564               1             564            0.03           16.92          345.42
                                    Core................             450               1             450            0.73          328.50
Adults--Federated States of         Screener............             625               1             625            0.03           18.75          324.75
 Micronesia.                        Core................             450               1             450            0.68          306.00
Adults--Republic of the Marshall    Screener............             360               1             360            0.03           10.80          205.80
 Islands.                           Core................             300               1             300            0.65          195.00
Adults--Commonwealth of the         Screener............             670               1             670            0.03           20.10          395.10
 Northern Mariana Islands.          Core................             500               1             500            0.75             375
Adults--Republic of Palau.........  Screener............             285               1             285            0.03            8.55          183.55
                                    Core................             250               1             250            0.70             175
    Total.........................  Screener............          10,500               1          10,500            0.03          315.00       \2\ 3,155
                                    Core................           4,000               1           4,000            0.71        2,840.00
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    The table above shows a total annual burden of 3,155 hours, a 
decrease from the previously estimated 3,480.52 hours in ICR 202404-
0906-002. Although the total number of interviews has increased, the 
burden hours have declined due to two factors: (1) survey timings have 
been adjusted to reflect actual survey times from the three completed 
rounds of data collection, rather than prior estimates and (2) 
eligibility assumptions and response rates have been updated based on 
actual results from the same three rounds of data collection 
experience.

Maria G. Button,
Director, Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2025-01150 Filed 1-16-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P
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