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

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB

Review; Comment Request

Periodically, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services

Administration (SAMHSA) will publish a list of information collection

requests under OMB review, in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction

Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these documents, call

the SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer on (301) 443-7978.

State Treatment Outcomes and Performance Pilot Studies Enhancement

(TOPPS II)--New

The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) will develop a

standardized approach that systematically measures the treatment

outcomes of clients as they progress through State substance abuse

treatment systems funded by the Substance Abuse Prevention and

Treatment Block Grant (SAPT BG). The goal underlying TOPPS II is to

enable Single State Authorities (SSAs) to collect information on SAPT

BG funded treatment services and to monitor common substance abuse

treatment effectiveness data measures across their State management

information systems (MISs). The TOPPS II program supports initiatives

to design or enhance State MISs or outcomes monitoring systems (OMS)

which assess treatment outcomes measures. Nineteen SSAs are planning to

conduct and pilot test studies of specific components of substance

abuse treatment systems by incorporating common data measures across

all nineteen States on an inter-State (i.e., with the States acting

mutually together) basis. The TOPPS II study furthers the work begun by

CSAT under TOPPS I. Ten of the nineteen TOPPS II States had received

TOPPS I funding. Most of these States are now using the treatment

outcomes assessment instruments developed during the TOPPS I project.

All such instruments received OMB approval (OMB control number 0930-

0182).

During TOPPS II initial project implementation, a consensus-derived

core data set has been designed to identify key performance measures in

two domains: Effectiveness and efficiency. Within these domains, data

will be collected that will permit States and CSAT to assess client

outcomes (improvement) for indicators such as confinement in a

controlled environment, frequency of overnight hospitalizations and

emergency room visits, pregnancy status, child care responsibilities,

employment patterns, participation in vocational training or

educational programs, arrests, living arrangements, and drug use

patterns. These data will be collected through completion of the

client-oriented core data set.

The inter-State evaluation design for TOPPS II participants will be

a pre-test/post-test design that collects standardized data at client

intake, discharge, and again at follow-up. This time frame is necessary

to allow treatment providers the opportunity to assess the complex

causal links between program processes and client outcomes and to

monitor common substance abuse treatment effectiveness data measures

across their State MISs. In addition, all State-specific designs will

incorporate measures of client satisfaction at selected intervals,

which is essential to assessing the quality, efficiency and efficacy of

services.

This initiative is crucial to support CSAT in developing State

substance abuse treatment accountability measures. The inter-State data

base will incorporate standardized outcome measures which will be

voluntarily reported on by States in their Fiscal Year 2000 SAPT BG

applications. It will also comply with GPRA reporting requirements to

establish measurable performance goals for SAPT BG recipients. Through

these efforts, TOPPS II will contribute to the future development of a

standardized national approach that measures the effectiveness and

efficiency of public substance abuse treatment systems. The estimated

annualized burden for TOPPS II core data set collection for the inter-

State evaluation design, over the next three years is presented in the

following table.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of

State Number of responses/ Total Hours per Total hour

respondents respondents responses response burden

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AZ*............................. 556 4 2,224 0.12 267

AR.............................. 1,125 3 3,375 0.12 405

CA.............................. 2,700 3 8,100 0.12 972

CT.............................. 600 3 1,800 0.12 216

IL.............................. 2,000 3 6,000 0.12 720

IO.............................. 300 3 900 0.12 108

KY**............................ 600 4 2,400 0.12 288

MA.............................. 1,370 3 4,110 0.12 493

MO.............................. 500 3 1,500 0.12 180

NH.............................. 657 3 1,971 0.12 237

NJ.............................. 1,200 3 3,600 0.12 432

NY.............................. 1,875 3 5,625 0.12 675

RI.............................. 1,200 3 3,600 0.12 432

TX.............................. 1,750 3 5,250 0.12 630

UT.............................. 1,050 3 3,150 0.12 378

VA.............................. 1,600 3 4,800 0.12 576

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total 3-Year Burden......... 19,083 .............. 63,405 .............. 7,009

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Annualized Burden........... 6,361 .............. 21,135 .............. 2,336

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Arizona has elected to conduct two follow-up assessments: at 6 months post-discharge and at 12 months post-

discharge.

** Kentucky is legislatively required to conduct a 12-month follow-up assessment in addition to the three data

collection points required by the TOPPS II study.

[[Page 40890]]

Written comments and recommendations concerning the proposed

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

Daniel Chenok, Human Resources and Housing Branch, Office of Management

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

20503.

Dated: July 21, 1999.

Richard Kopanda,

Executive Officer, SAMHSA.

[FR Doc. 99-19237 Filed 7-27-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4162-20-P