Request for Public Comment: 60-Day Proposed Collection: Indian Health Service, Scholarship and Loan Repayment Program

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Indian Health Service

Request for Public Comment: 60-Day Proposed Collection: Indian

Health Service, Scholarship and Loan Repayment Program

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

Reduction Act of 1995, to provide a 60-day advance opportunity for

public comment on proposed information collection projects, the Indian

Health Service (IHS) is publishing for comment a summary of proposed

information collection to be submitted to the Office of Management and

Budget (OMB) for review.

Proposed Collections

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

Repayment Program'' Type of Information Collection Request: Revision of

a currently approved collection. Form Number: None. Need and Use of

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

health professionals with pre-existing financial obligations for

education expenses that meet program criteria and who are qualified and

willing to serve at, often remote, IHS health care facilities. 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 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 which 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; rank and prioritize

applicants by speciality; assign applicants to IHS health care

facilities; determine payment amounts and schedules for paying the

lending institutions; and to provide data and statistics for program

management review and analysis. Affected Public: Individuals 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.

Table 1.--Estimated Burden Hours

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Estimated

Data collection instrument number of Responses per Average burden hour per Total annual

respondents respondent response * burden hrs

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Section I.......................... 350 1 0.25 (15 mins).

Section II......................... 350 1 0.50 (30 mins).

Section III........................ 350 4 0.25 (15 mins).

Contract........................... 350 1 0.334 (20 mins).

Affidavit.......................... 350 1 0.167 (10 mins).

Lender Certificate................. 1400 1 0.25 (15 mins).

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

[[Page 15170]]

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 the treatment

outcome evaluation; (b) whether the agency processes the information

collected in a useful and timely fashion; (c) the accuracy of 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.

SEND COMMENTS AND REQUESTS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Send your written

comments, requests for more information on the proposed collection or

requests to obtain a copy of the data collection instrument(s) and

instructions to: Mr. Lance Hodahkwen, Sr., M.P.H., IHS Reports

Clearance Officer, 12300 Twinbrook Parkway, Suite 450, Rockville, MD

20852-1601, call non-toll free (301) 443-5938, send via fax to (301)

443-21316, or send your e-mail requests, comments, and return address

to: I[email protected].

COMMENT DUE DATE: Your comments regarding this information collection

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

June 1, 1999.

Dated: March 18, 1999.

Michael H. Trujillo,

Assistant Surgeon General Director.

[FR Doc. 99-7782 Filed 3-29-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160-16-M