Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;

Comment Request

In compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction

Act of 1995 concerning opportunity for public comment on proposed

collections of information, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health

Services Administration will publish periodic summaries of proposed

projects. To request more information on the proposed projects or to

obtain a copy of the information collection plans, call the SAMHSA

Reports Clearance Officer on (301) 443-7978.

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collections of

information are 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: Evaluation of the Effects of the Vermont Parity

Act--New-- In support of its mission to support activities related to

improving mental health and substance abuse treatment and prevention

through demonstration projects, evaluations and service system

assessments, SAMHSA is taking advantage of the implementation of the

Vermont Parity Act on January 1, 1998. The Vermont Parity Act provides

SAMHSA with an important opportunity to study the health insurance

coverage impacts of the nation's most comprehensive parity law and to

provide useful data to state and federal policy makers, employers,

health care providers, advocates, and consumers.

SAMHSA will conduct a telephone survey of private employers in

Vermont to assess their responses to the state law. The employer survey

will gather information on the effects of the Vermont parity lay on

employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. As a study of the most

comprehensive

[[Page 2419]]

state parity law in the nation, this survey will provide SAMHSA its

first opportunity to understand: (1) Employer knowledge of and

satisfaction with parity; (2) estimated effects of parity on employer

health care costs; (3) effects of parity on employer health insurance

purchasing decisions, such as decisions to self-insure, drop coverage,

change insurance carriers, shift a higher share of costs to employees,

or carve-out benefits and/or shift to managed care; (4) other changes

brought about by parity, such as establishment of employee assistance

plans or wellness programs; and (5) suggestions for improving the

parity law in the future.

Data will be collected between May and September 2000, a period

when employers typically re-evaluate their health insurance coverage

decisions for the upcoming fiscal year. Upon completion of the data

collection, descriptive and multivariate analyses of employer responses

to and satisfaction with parity will be conducted. Responses will be

analyzed by employer characteristics such as firm size, location, and

type of industry. SAMHSA will use the survey results and survey data to

advise governmental bodies such as the National Advisory Mental Health

Council (NAMHC), which was charged by the Senate Appropriations

Committee in 1996 to provide periodic reports on parity coverage in

mental health services ``as more data throughout the country become

available''.

The table below shows the total burden for this one-year study.

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Burden/

Type of interview Number of Responses/ response Total burden

respondents Respondent (hrs.) hours

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Eligible businesses (screened and interviewed) 600 1 .33 200

\1\............................................

Ineligible businesses (screened only) \2\....... 188 1 .17 32

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Total....................................... 788 .............. .............. 232

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\1\ Eligible businesses consist of businesses offering insurance to their employees at the time of the survey

and newly uninsured businesses that stopped offering insurance to their employees after January 1, 1998 when

the parity law went into effect.

\2\ Ineligible businesses consist of businesses that have not offered insurance at any time since January 1,

1998.

Send comments to Nancy Pearce, SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, Room

16-105, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857.

Written comments should be received within 60 days of this notice.

Dated: January 6, 2000.

Richard Kopanda,

Executive Officer, SAMHSA.

[FR Doc. 00-909 Filed 1-13-00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4162-20-P