37874 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 121 / Friday, June 24, 2022 / Notices 

3The Census Bureau defines experimental data 

products as ‘‘innovative statistical products created 

using new data sources or methodologies that 

benefit data users in the absence of other data 

products . . . Census Bureau experimental data 

may not meet all of HRSA’s data quality standards. 

Because of this, HRSA clearly identifies 

experimental data products and includes 

methodology and supporting research with their 

release.’’ https://www.census.gov/data/ 

experimental-data-products.html. 

4https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/ 

data/experimental-data.html. 

interviewing resumed in July, but not 

for all areas. 

All of these changes affected response 

rates, in terms of who was most likely 

to complete the mailed surveys or 

participate in interviews, etc. The 

Census Bureau concluded that the 2020 

ACS 1-year data were not ‘‘reasonable’’ 

as respondents disproportionately ‘‘had 

higher levels of education, had more 

married couples and few never married 

citizens, had less Medicaid coverage, 

had higher median household incomes, 

and fewer non-citizens, and were more 

likely to live in single-family housing 

units’’ than respondents in previous 

years. Therefore, the Census Bureau 

decided not to release standard 2020 

ACS 1-year estimates. The Census 

Bureau is providing only ‘‘experimental 

estimates’’ for 2020 ACS 1-year data.3

The Census Bureau indicated that the 

experimental 2020 estimates were 

released in an attempt to account for the 

differential response from more 

educated, higher income, single-family 

households, but also acknowledged the 

approach has not been thoroughly 

investigated.4

Upon their release, HRSA examined 

the 2020 ACS experimental estimates 

and compared the change in poverty 

share using a 3-year estimate 

incorporating the 2020 experimental 

estimate with prior year-to-year changes 

since 2014—the first year of annual 

updates to poverty share data using 3- 

year ACS estimates. Using the 2020 

experimental estimates, HRSA noted an 

increase in the variability, with 12 states 

having their largest observed relative 

percentage change, 9 states having large 

(>5 percent) relative percentage 

changes, and 6 states having large (>5 

percent) relative decreases in poverty 

share from the prior year. Moreover, in 

years prior, large relative percentage 

changes were most often increases, but 

the opposite occurred in 2020 using the 

experimental estimates, i.e., six states 

would have a large decrease vs. three 

states would have a large increase. 

Thus, due to the greater observed data 

variability and number of states that 

would experience large decreases in 

their poverty share, HRSA has concerns 

about the accuracy of the 2020 

experimental estimates as applied to the 

MCH allocation. For smaller states, in 

particular, large relative decreases in 

poverty share can result in meaningful 

absolute decreases in the poverty-based 

allocation. As state budgets are 

impacted by the COVID–19 pandemic, 

HRSA proposes a conservative approach 

that limits such decreases based on 

uncertain experimental estimates to the 

extent possible. 

In order to ameliorate these concerns 

and because of the nature of the data, 

HRSA proposes that the ACS 2020 

experimental estimates not be used in 

calculating MCH block grant allocations. 

Instead, HRSA proposes that the FY 

2023 funding allocation be based on the 

same poverty data used in the FY 2022 

allocation (i.e., pooled 1-year estimates 

for 2017, 2018, and 2019 ACS). Funding 

allocations for FY 2024 and FY 2025 

would continue to incorporate the latest 

1-year ACS data while skipping the 

2020 experimental data (i.e., for FY 

2024, the 2018, 2019, and 2021 ACS 

data will be used; for FY 2025, the 2019, 

2021, and 2022 ACS data will be used). 

In FY 2026, the temporary change to the 

method for calculating allocations will 

no longer be necessary, and HRSA will 

resume pooling of 3 consecutive 1-year 

estimates (2021–2023). HRSA’s proposal 

to temporarily change the method of 

calculating allocations continues to 

support the objective of distributing 

funding according to greatest need. In so 

doing, HRSA will avoid the use of lower 

quality and potentially inaccurate 

poverty data for 2020 that would result 

in larger funding fluctuations than 

observed in previous years, and will 

continue to use the latest available data 

in future years. With this approach, no 

state will see a decrease in its povertybased allocation of funding in FY 2023. 

If the poverty data used for the FY 

2022 allocation is used again for the FY 

2023 allocation, all states will receive 

the same proportion of poverty-based 

funding as they received in FY 2022, 

which will prevent potentially 

inaccurate changes in allocations. HRSA 

recognizes the possibility that the 

changes seen with 2020 ACS 

experimental estimates may actually 

reflect real changes in the distribution of 

children in poverty which may be seen 

when the 2021 ACS 1-year estimates (to 

be released in Fall 2022) are 

incorporated. If that is the case, then the 

difference in FY 2024 allocations as 

compared to the FY 2023 allocations 

will accurately reflect those changes by 

incorporating the 2021 data. 

Diana Espinosa, 

Deputy Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2022–13475 Filed 6–23–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4165–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Health Resources and Services 

Administration 

[OMB No. 0906–xxxx–New] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Proposed Collection: Public 

Comment Request Information 

Collection Request Title: Optimizing 

Virtual Care Grant Program 

Performance Measures 

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services 

Administration (HRSA), Department of 

Health and Human Services. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

requirement for opportunity for public 

comment on proposed data collection 

projects of the Paperwork Reduction Act 

of 1995, HRSA announces plans to 

submit an Information Collection 

Request (ICR), described below, to the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB). Prior to submitting the ICR to 

OMB, HRSA seeks comments from the 

public regarding the burden estimate, 

below, or any other aspect of the ICR. 

DATES: Comments on this ICR should be 

received no later than August 23, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments to 

paperwork@hrsa.gov or by mail to the 

HRSA Information Collection Clearance 

Officer, Room 14N136B, 5600 Fishers 

Lane, Rockville, MD 20857. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To 

request more information on the 

proposed project or to obtain a copy of 

the data collection plans and draft 

instruments, email paperwork@hrsa.gov 

or call Samantha Miller, the acting 

HRSA Information Collection Clearance 

Officer at (301) 443–9094. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When 

submitting comments or requesting 

information, please include the 

information collection request title for 

reference. 

Information Collection Request Title: 

Optimizing Virtual Care Grant Program 

Performance Measures, OMB No. 0906– 

xxxx—New. 

Abstract: The Health Center Program 

and supplemental awards for health 

centers are authorized by Section 330(d) 

of the Public Health Service Act (42 

U.S.C. 254b(d)). Notably, HRSA is 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 121 / Friday, June 24, 2022 / Notices 37875 

authorized to make supplemental 

awards for health centers to ‘‘implement 

evidence-based models for increasing 

access to high-quality primary care 

services, which may include models 

related to expanding the use of 

telehealth and technology-enabled 

collaborative learning and capacity 

building models.’’ Under the 

Optimizing Virtual Care (OVC) grant 

program, 29 high-performing health 

centers received 2-year one-time 

funding supplemental awards to 

increase health care access and quality 

for underserved populations through 

virtual care such as telehealth, remote 

patient monitoring, digital patient tools, 

and health information technology 

platforms. Specifically, award recipients 

will use OVC funding to develop and 

implement innovative evidence-based 

strategies with the potential to be 

adapted, leveraged, and scaled across 

the Health Center Program to increase 

access to care and improve clinical 

quality by optimizing the use of virtual 

care with a specific focus on medically 

underserved communities and 

populations. 

The goal of the OVC grant program is 

to continue to support innovation that 

began during the COVID–19 pandemic, 

when health centers quickly expanded 

their use of virtual care to maintain 

access to essential primary care services 

for underserved communities. HRSAfunded health centers serve medically 

underserved populations facing barriers 

to virtual care access, such as low 

digital literacy, low connectivity 

capabilities, or limited technology 

access. The OVC grant recipients will 

serve as a model for how to increase 

equitable virtual care, generating and 

refining strategies that can be adapted 

and scaled across the Health Center 

Program. 

Need and Proposed Use of the 

Information: The information collected 

on OVC grant recipient activities and 

performance will help HRSA 

demonstrate, adapt, assess, and 

disseminate promising practices, 

strategies, and novel models of virtual 

care across the nation’s health centers. 

The information will support an 

assessment that yields: 

• Data on how to optimize the use of 

virtual care in the Health Center 

Program to enhance access to care and 

improve clinical quality for medically 

underserved communities and 

populations. 

• Information on how to adapt, 

leverage, and scale up the OVC grant 

program models across other HRSA 

funding opportunities. 

• Information on strategies to 

promote and scale virtual care 

innovations focused on increasing 

health equity for Health Center Program 

patients. 

The assessment will include descriptive 

analyses of grant recipient activities and 

performance, including analyses of 

trends over time. The analyses will 

inform recommendations for 

performance measures that HRSA could 

scale across the Health Center Program 

and across other grant programs. 

The grant recipient activities related 

to implementation of novel models of 

virtual care, including aggregate data on 

patients served and the services they 

received, will be captured via monthly 

progress reports. A set of health center 

performance measures will be captured 

in a bi-annual progress report and will 

provide insight into health equity and 

virtual care. Grant recipients will collect 

and report performance measures based 

on project goals and objectives that span 

four key population health and clinical 

domain areas, including (1) Increased 

Access to Care and Information; (2) 

Improve Clinical Quality and Health 

Outcomes; (3) Enhance Patient Care 

Coordination; and (4) Promote Health 

Equity. 

Likely Respondents: Respondents will 

be the 29 health centers that received 

one-time funding supplemental awards 

through the Optimizing Virtual Care 

grant program. 

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 

hours estimated for this ICR are 

summarized in the table below. 

TOTAL ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Form name Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Total 

responses 

Average 

burden per 

response 

(in hours) 

Total burden 

hours 

OVC Monthly Progress Report ............................................ 29 12 348 2 696 

OVC Biannual Measures Report ......................................... 29 2 58 48 2,784 

Total .............................................................................. 29 ........................ 406 ........................ 3,480 

HRSA specifically requests comments 

on (1) the necessity and utility of the 

proposed information collection for the 

proper performance of the agency’s 

functions, (2) the accuracy of the 

estimated burden, (3) ways to enhance 

the quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information to be collected, and (4) the 

use of automated collection techniques 

or other forms of information 

technology to minimize the information 

collection burden. 

Maria G. Button, 

Director, Executive Secretariat. 

[FR Doc. 2022–13526 Filed 6–23–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4165–15–P 


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