[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 188 (Thursday, September 29, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56925-56926]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-19432]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

    In compliance with the requirement for opportunity for public 
comment on proposed data collection projects (section 3506(c)(2)(A) of 
Title 44, United States Code, as amended by the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995, Pub. L. 104-13), the Health Resources and Services 
Administration (HRSA) publishes periodic summaries of proposed projects 
being developed for submission to OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995. To request more information on the proposed project or to 
obtain a copy of the data collection plans and draft instruments, call 
the HRSA Reports Clearance Officer at (301) 443-1129.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology.

Proposed Project: Maternal and Child Health Services Title V Block 
Grant Program--Guidance and Forms for the Title V Application/Annual 
Report, OMB No.0915-0172: Revision

    The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) proposes to 
revise the Maternal and Child Health Services Title V Block Grant 
Program--Guidance and Forms for the Application/Annual Report. The 
guidance is used annually by the 50 States and 9 jurisdictions in 
making application for Block Grants under Title V of the Social 
Security Act, and in preparing the required annual report. The proposed 
revisions follow and build on extensive consultation received from a 
workgroup convened to provide suggestions to improve the guidance and 
forms. The proposed revisions are editorial and technical revisions 
based on the experience of the states and jurisdictions in using the 
guidance and forms since 2003.
    Two new performance measures were developed (obesity in children 
aged 2 to 5 years; and smoking in the last trimester of pregnancy) and 
two existing performance measures were either removed entirely (low 
birth weight) or incorporated into an existing health status capacity 
indicator (eligible children receiving services under Medicaid). This 
will result in no net increase in the number of performance measures. 
In addition, the directions in the guidance for the Health Systems 
Capacity Indicators (HSCI) were expanded to enhance clarification. This 
proposed change will make it easier for the states to report on these 
indicators.
    The existing electronic system used by the states to submit their 
Block Grant Application and Annual Report has also been enhanced. 
First, using the electronic system, the narrative from the prior year's 
submission is available online in the system so that the applicant need 
only edit those sections that have changed. This reduces burden by 
avoiding duplicating material. For national performance measures 2-6, 
the data obtained from the National Survey of Children with Special 
Health Care Needs are pre-populated which eliminates the need to 
retrieve and enter data from this survey, unless the states choose to 
use another data source. Also, notes from the prior year's submission 
are available to the states allowing for more efficient updating 
through edits rather then recreating them. Data are entered once (in a 
data entry field on a given form), and where those data are referenced 
elsewhere, the value is

[[Page 56926]]

copied and displayed. The electronic system includes an automatic 
character counter that tells the user how many characters the states 
have left. This eliminates the need to independently track entries 
against the Maternal and Child Health Bureau's limits for each section 
and ensures compliance. The electronic system includes forms status 
checker and data alerts, which conduct automated checks on data 
validity, data consistency, and application completeness, as well as 
value tolerance checks. This facilitates application review and 
eliminates much of previously required data cleaning activity. Also, 
this allows the user to obtain an immediate update at any point in time 
on the completeness and compliance of the application, reducing the 
need to conduct a review of the application. Data are saved directly to 
the HRSA server so that no manual transmission is required. Finally, 
the automatic commitment of data to the HRSA server eliminates the need 
for version control or data migration.
    The estimated average annual burden per year is as follows for the 
Annual Report and Application without the Needs Assessment:

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                                                     Number of    Responses  per   Burden hours    Total burden
               Type of respondent                   respondents      respondent    per response        hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
States..........................................              50               1             297          14,868
Jurisdictions...................................               9               1             120           1,077
                                                 -----------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............              59          15,945
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    Burden in the 3 Year Reporting Cycle for the Annual Report and 
Application with Needs Assessment is:

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                                                 Number of    Burden hours per    Responses per    Total burden
              Needs assessment                  respondents       responses        respondent          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
States/Jurisdictions........................              59             378.5                 1          22,303
                                             -----------------
    Total Average Burden for 3 year cycle...  ..............  ................  ................          18,064
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    Send comments to Susan G. Queen, PhD., HRSA Reports Clearance 
Officer, Room 10-33, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, 
MD 20857. Written comments should be received within 60 days of notice.

    Dated: September 23, 2005.
Tina M. Cheatham,
Director, Division of Policy Review and Coordination.
[FR Doc. 05-19432 Filed 9-28-05; 8:45 am]
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