7818 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

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 

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services 

Administration, HHS. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with Section 

3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, the Health 

Resources and Services Administration 

(HRSA) has 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. 

DATES: Comments on this ICR should be 

received no later than March 17, 2016. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

including the Information Collection 

Request Title, to the desk officer for 

HRSA, either by email to OIRA_

submission@omb.eop.gov or by fax to 

202–395–5806. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To 

request a copy of the clearance requests 

submitted to OMB for review, email the 

HRSA Information Collection Clearance 

Officer at paperwork@hrsa.gov or call 

(301) 443–1984. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Information Collection Request Title: 

Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility 

Grant Program Performance. 

OMB No.: 0915–0363—Revision. 

Abstract: The Medicare Rural 

Hospital Flexibility Program (Flex) is 

authorized by Section 1820 of the Social 

Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i–4), as 

amended. Flex engages 45 statedesignated entities in activities relating 

to planning and implementing rural 

health care plans and networks; 

designating facilities as Critical Access 

Hospitals (CAHs); providing support for 

CAHs for quality improvement, quality 

reporting, performance improvements, 

and benchmarking; and integrating rural 

emergency medical services (EMS). 

Given the shifting priorities in health 

care related to delivery system reform, 

Flex provides funding for states to also 

deliver technical assistance in activities 

supporting population health 

management and the integration of 

innovative care models. Statedesignated Flex programs act as a 

resource and focal point for these 

activities, promoting the stability and 

delivery of high quality health care 

services for residents in rural 

communities. Identifying areas for 

program improvement and enhanced 

technical assistance in a systematic 

approach is paramount. The revised 

measures identified in the Flex Program 

complement work plan data and take 

into consideration existing measures 

and priorities set forth by HHS, avoiding 

duplication of efforts and minimizing 

burden as indicated by public 

comments and programmatic feedback 

from partners. 

Need and Proposed Use of the 

Information: For this program, measures 

were revised to provide performance 

data useful to the Flex Program and 

provide aggregate program data required 

by Congress under the Government 

Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 

2010. These measures cover principal 

topic areas of interest to the Federal 

Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) 

including: (a) Quality reporting; (b) 

quality improvement interventions; (c) 

financial and operational improvement 

initiatives; (d) population health 

management and EMS integration; and 

(e) innovative care models. Several 

measures related to critical access 

hospitals (CAHs) making improvements 

will be used for this program and will 

inform FORHP’s progress toward 

meeting the goals set in GPRA. 

Furthermore, obtaining this information 

is important for identifying and 

understanding improvement trends 

across Flex program areas, prioritizing 

areas of need with technical assistance 

and support for grantees, and guiding 

future iterations of the Flex Program. 

Likely Respondents: Respondents will 

be the Flex Program coordinator for 

each state participating in the Flex 

Program. There are currently 45 states 

participating in the Flex 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 

Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program Performance ........................................................................... 45 1 45 70 3,150 

Total .............................................................................. 45 1 45 70 3,150 

Jackie Painter, 

Director, Division of the Executive Secretariat. 

[FR Doc. 2016–03014 Filed 2–12–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4165–15–P 

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