Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 161 / Tuesday, August 19, 2008 / Notices 48387 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Indian Health Service 

Request for Public Comment: 30-Day 

Proposed Information Collection: 

Indian Health Service Loan Repayment 

Program 

AGENCY: Indian Health Service, HHS. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with Section 

3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 which requires 

30 days for public comment on 

proposed information collection 

projects, the Indian Health Service (IHS) 

has submitted to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) a 

request to review and approve the 

information collection listed below. 

This proposed information collection 

project was previously published in the 

Federal Register (73 FR 29520) on May 

21, 2008 and allowed 60 days for public 

comment. No public comment was 

received in response to the notice. The 

purpose of this notice is to allow 30 

days for public comment to be 

submitted directly to OMB. 

Proposed Collection: Title: 0917–

0014, ‘‘Indian Health Service Loan 

Repayment Program.’’ Type of 

Information Collection Request: 

Extension, without revision, of currently 

approved information collection, 0917–

0014, ‘‘Indian Health Service Loan 

Repayment Program.’’ Form Number(s): 

The IHS Loan Repayment Program 

Information Booklet contains the 

instructions and the application 

formats. Need and Use of Information 

Collection: The IHS Loan Repayment 

Program (LRP) identifies health 

professionals with pre-existing financial 

obligations for education expenses that 

meet program criteria and who are 

qualified and willing to serve at, often 

remote, IHS health care facilities. Under 

the program, eligible health 

professionals sign a contract under 

which the IHS agrees to repay part or all 

of their indebtedness for professional 

training education. In exchange, the 

health professionals agree to serve for a 

specified period of time in IHS health 

care facilities. This program is necessary 

to augment the critically low health 

professional staff at IHS health care 

facilities. 

Any health professional wishing to 

have their health education loans 

repaid, may apply to the IHS Loan 

Repayment Program. A two-year 

contract obligation is signed by both 

parties, and the individual agrees to 

work at an IHS location and provide 

health services to Native American and 

Alaska Native individuals. 

The information collected from 

individuals is analyzed and a score is 

given to each applicant. This score will 

determine which applicants will be 

awarded each fiscal year. The 

administrative scoring system assigns a 

score to the geographic location 

according to vacancy rates for that fiscal 

year and also considers whether the 

location is in an isolated area. When an 

applicant takes employment at a 

location, they in turn ‘‘pick-up’’ the 

score of that location. Affected Public: 

Individuals and households. Type of 

Respondents: Individuals. 

The table below provides: Types of 

data collection instruments, Estimated 

number of respondents, Number of 

responses per respondent, Annual 

number of responses, Average burden 

hour per response, and Total annual 

burden hour(s). 

ESTIMATED BURDEN HOURS

Data collection instrument 

Estimated 

number of 

respondents 

Responses 

per 

respondent 

Average 

burden hour 

per response 

Total annual 

burden hours 

Section I ........................................................................................................... 510 1 18/60 153.0 

Section II .......................................................................................................... 510 1 30/60 255.0 

Section III ......................................................................................................... 510 4 15/60 128.0 

Contract ........................................................................................................... 510 1 20/60 170.0 

Affidavit ............................................................................................................ 510 1 10/60 85.0 

Lender’s Certification ....................................................................................... 2,000 ........................ 15/60 500.0 

Total .......................................................................................................... 4,550 ........................ ........................ 1,291.0 

There are no Capital Costs, Operating 

Costs, and/or Maintenance Costs to 

report. 

Request for Comments: Your written 

comments and/or suggestions are 

invited on one or more of the following 

points: (a) Whether the information 

collection activity is necessary to carry 

out an agency function; (b) whether the 

agency processes the information 

collected in a useful and timely fashion; 

(c) the accuracy of the public burden 

estimate (the estimated amount of time 

needed for individual respondents to 

provide the requested information); (d) 

whether the methodology and 

assumptions used to determine the 

estimates are logical; (e) ways to 

enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 

of the information being collected; and 

(f) ways to minimize the public burden 

through the use of automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Direct Comments to OMB: Send your 

written comments and suggestions 

regarding the proposed information 

collection contained in this notice, 

especially regarding the estimated 

public burden and associated response 

time to: Office of Management and 

Budget, Office of Regulatory Affairs, 

New Executive Office Building, Room 

10235, Washington, DC 20503, 

Attention: Desk Officer for IHS. To 

request more information on the 

proposed collection or to obtain a copy 

of the data collection instrument(s) and/ 

or instruction(s) contact: Ms. Janet 

Ingersoll, Acting IHS Reports Clearance 

Officer, 12300 Twinbrook Parkway, 

Suite 450, Rockville, MD 20852–1601; 

call non-toll free (301) 443–6177; send 

via facsimile to (301) 443–2316; or send 

your e-mail requests, comments, and 

return address to: 

Janet.Ingersoll@ihs.gov. 

Comment Due Date: Comments 

regarding this information collection are 

best assured of having full effect if 

received within 30 days of the date of 

this publication. 

Dated: August 11, 2008. 

Robert G. McSwain, 

Director, Indian Health Service. 

[FR Doc. E8–19053 Filed 8–18–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4165–16–M 


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