Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration

Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection;

Comment Request

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

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for opportunity for public comment on

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proposed data collection projects, the Health Resources and Services

Administration (HRSA) will publish 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, call the HRSA

Reports Clearance Officer on (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

The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Application Process (OMB

No. 0915-0146)--Revision and Extension--The National Health Service

Corps (NHSC) Scholarship Program was established to help alleviate the

geographical and specialty maldistribution of physicians and other

health practitioners in the United States. Under this program, health

professions students are offered scholarships in return for service in

a federally-designated Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA).

In an effort to improve the procedures for selecting NHSC scholars,

a revised application and a semi-structured interview were pilot tested

in the spring of 1996. The revised selection process is designed to

broaden the scope of the information available on applicants in order

to improve the Agency's ability to identify those applicants with the

greatest potential to fulfill the objectives of the Scholarship

Program. The application form is being expanded, and the unstructured

interview is being replaced by a semistructured interview conducted by

a team of two interviewers who use a structured scoring procedure.

Approval will be requested to implement the new process in two

phases; the new interview will be used in 1997 along with the current

application, with the intent to implement the full process for the 1998

awards.

Estimates of Annualized Hour Burden

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Responses Total

Form name Number of per Hours per burden

respondents respondent response hours

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Application................................................. 3000 1 1.0 3000

Interview................................................... 900 1 1.67 1500

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Estimated Total Annual Burden: 4500 hours. The interview burden

includes 1 hour for travel time to the interview site.

Send comments to Patricia Royston, HRSA Reports Clearance Officer,

Room 14-36, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857.

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

Dated: October 3, 1996.

J. Henry Montes,

Associate Administrator for Policy Coordination.

[FR Doc. 96-25913 Filed 10-8-96; 8:45 am]

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