Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration

Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB

Review; Comment Request

Periodically, the Health Resources and Services Administration

(HRSA) publishes abstracts of information collection requests under

review by the Office of Management and Budget, in compliance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a

copy of the clearance requests submitted to OMB for review, call the

HRSA Reports Clearance Office on (301)-443-1129.

The following request has been submitted to the Office of

Management and Budget for review under the Paperwork Reduction Act of

1995:

Proposed Project: Performance Outcome Demonstration Study--New

Through Titles VII and VIII programs, the Bureau of Health

Professions provides both policy leadership and support for health

professions workforce enhancement and educational infrastructure

development. An outcome-based performance measurement system is central

to the ability of the Bureau to determine whether program support is

meeting its national health workforce objectives, and to signal where

program course correction is necessary.

In addition, the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA)

requires each agency to develop comprehensive strategic plans, to

submit annual performance plans that set specific performance goals for

each program activity, and to report annually on the actual performance

achieved compared to the performance goals.

The Bureau of Health Professions has developed a comprehensive

performance monitoring system (CPMS) which consists of cross-cutting

indicators designed to capture the common activities across programs,

cluster level indicators designed to capture common activities for

programs with a similar focus, and program specific indicators designed

to capture activities which are specific to selected individual

programs. At the core of the Bureau's performance monitoring system are

four cross-cutting goals with respect to workforce quality, supply,

diversity and distribution. External customer input was utilized to

validate the Bureau's proposed outcomes and indicators, and to assist

with a preliminary assessment of the suitability of data sources. A

pilot study of nine program sites within the Washington metropolitan

area was completed to determine the availability of the data along with

the clarity of the definitions and instructions. The results of the

pilot indicate that these data can be collected from grantees.

A wider demonstration will be done to assess the ability of current

grantees, in the second year of the project period or later, to supply

the data without the benefit of a site visit and to further refine the

definitions and instructions. Since data are collected by discipline,

the estimate of burden hours per response is different for projects

that involve a single discipline and projects that involve multiple

disciplines.

As part of the demonstration study, grantees will be sent a Data

System Questionnaire that asks for information on grantee capacity for

using information technology to store and transmit data. This

information will be used to determine the best way to use information

technology when the CPMS is fully implemented. It is expected that the

distribution and submission of the CPMS data forms will eventually be

fully automated and that the data collection tool will be an

interactive program which prompts respondents to report only those data

relevant to their programs. Burden estimates are as follows:

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Responses

Type of respondent Number of per Total Hours per Total hour

respondents respondent responses response burden

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Data System Questionnaire...................... 644 1 644 .17 107

CPMS Tables: Projects involving a single

discipline.................................... 511 1 511 8 4,088

CPMS Tables: Projects involving multiple

disciplines................................... 64 1 64 40 2,560

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Total...................................... 644 ........... 1219 ........... 6,755

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Written comments and recommendations concerning the proposed

information collection should be sent within 30 days of this notice to:

Laura Oliven, Human Resources and Housing Branch, Office of Management

and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, D.C.

20503.

Dated: December 17, 1997.

Jane Harrison,

Acting Director, Division of Policy Review and Coordination.

[FR Doc. 97-33417 Filed 12-22-97; 8:45 am]

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