Request for Public Comment: 30-Day; Proposed Collection: Indian Health Service Loan Repayment Program

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Indian Health Service

Request for Public Comment: 30-Day; Proposed Collection: Indian

Health Service Loan Repayment Program

Summary: In compliance with Section 3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995, for opportunity 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 published in the March 30,

1999, Federal Register (64 FR 15169) 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 to OMB.

Proposed Collection

Title: 09-17-0014, ``Indian Health Service Loan Repayment

Program.'' Type of Information Collection Request: Extension of a

currently approved collection that expires November 30, 1999. Form

Number: No reporting forms required. Need and Use of Information

Collection: The IHS Loan Repayment Program (LRP) identifies health

professionals with pre-existing financial obligations for educational

expenses that meet program criteria and who are qualified and willing

to serve at IHS health care facilities that are often remote. 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.

Eligible health professionals who wish to apply must submit an

application to participate in the program. The application requests

personal, demographic and educational training information, including

information on the educational loans of the individual for whom

repayment is being requested (i.e., date, amount, account number,

purpose of each loan, interest rate, the current balance, etc.). The

data collected is needed and used to evaluate applicant eligibility, to

rank and prioritize applicants by specialty, to assign applicants to

IHS health care facilities, to determine payment amounts and schedules

for paying the lending institutes, and to provide data and statistics

for program management review and analysis. Affected Public: Individual

and households. Type of Respondents: Individuals. Table 1 below

provides the following 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.

[[Page 55740]]

Table 1.--Estimated Burden Hours

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Estimated

Data collection instrument number of Response per Average burden hours per Total annual

respondents respondent response * burden hrs.

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Section I.......................... 350 1 0.25 (15 min.)............. 87.5

Section II......................... 350 1 0.50 (30 min.)............. 175.0

Section III........................ 350 4 0.25 (15 min).............. 350.0

Contract........................... 350 1 0.33 (20 min).............. 116.0

Affidavit.......................... 350 1 0.17 (min)................. 58.5

Lender's Certificate............... 1,400 .............. 0.25....................... 350.0

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Total.......................... 1,750 .............. ........................... 1,137

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* For ease of understanding, burden hours are also provided in actual minutes.

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

IHS 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 estimate 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: Mr. Lance Hodahkwen, Sr., M.P.H., IHS Reports Clearance

Officer, 12300 Twinbrook Parkway, Suite 450, Rockville, MD 20852-1601,

or call non-toll free (301) and return address to:

[email protected].

Comment Due Date: Comments regarding this information collection

are best assured of having their full effect if received on or before

November 15, 1999.

Dated: October 7, 1999.

Michael H. Trujillo,

Assistant Surgeon General, Director.

[FR Doc. 99-26805 Filed 10-13-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160-16-M