SORH 0322 Supporting Statement PASSBACK

Supporting Statement

State Offices of Rural Health Grant (SORH) Program Technical Assistance

OMB Control No. 0915-0322 / Expiration 09/30/2016

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Circumstances of Information Collection

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), is requesting OMB approval to continue use of a Technical Assistance Data Form for the State Offices of Rural Health Grant (SORH) program. In its authorizing language (SEC. 711. [42 U.S.C. 912]), Congress charged FORHP with “administering grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts to provide technical assistance (TA) and other activities as necessary to support activities related to improving health care in rural areas.” The mission of FORHP is to sustain and improve access to quality health care services for rural communities. This electronic form will be used collect information from SORH grantees on the amount of direct TA assistance they provide to clients within their State.

SORH began in 1991and is a matching (3:1) grant program that has resulted in the establishment of state offices of rural health in all 50 states. The mission of each office is to help strengthen and improve rural health care delivery systems in rural communities. To accomplish this mission, each office collects and disseminates information; helps coordinate state-wide rural health interests and activities in order to avoid duplication and provides technical TA to rural clients. Grantees submit an annual progress report narrative that includes their TA outreach activities. However, the information was not standardized and did not provide quantitative detail on the provision of technical assistance.

In 2007, FORHP and representatives from the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH) collaborated to revise and improve the existing GPRA measures pertaining to TA. The old measure counted only the number of unduplicated communities that received TA and failed to capture the volume of TA activities and the number of entities (or clients) that received the TA. In addition, there was no universally accepted definition of TA. Definitions for TA encounters and unduplicated clients were created and two revised performance measures were developed to more precisely measure the impact of the SORH element related to provision of technical assistance. The revised measures are: 1) the total number of TA encounters provided directly to clients within state by SORH; and 2) the total number of unduplicated clients within state that received TA directly from SORH. In addition, states can provide additional/optional examples of the different types of TA provided and types of clients that received TA.

FORHP received approval in 2008 to collect revised GPRA data measures. Data has been collected electronically for the past seven grant years ending with grant year 2014 which ended June 30, 2015. For the 2014 grant year SORHs provided 76,035 TA encounters to 22,047 unduplicated rural clients. The 2015 grant year ended June 30, 2016, but input not required until August 30, 2016. FORHP requests a three-year extension of the collection period.

2. Purposes and Use of Information

The purpose of this data collection is to provide HRSA/FORHP with standardized information on how well each SORH grantee is meeting the technical assistance needs of their States and rural communities. Consolidated data from the form provides quantitative information about technical assistance provided directly by the SORH grant program.

Responses will provide useful information on the SORH program and will enable HRSA/FORHP to provide data required by Congress under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. It will also ensure that grantees have a demonstrated need for technical assistance services in their communities and document that Federal funds are being effectively used to meet those needs.

Instructions

The SORH electronic data form consists of one table and is completed by all 50 grantees. Definitions for technical assistance and unduplicated client are long standing and have been provided to grantees. The table provides data on the number of technical assistance encounters provided and the number of unduplicated clients that received technical assistance. The information is then entered into the Performance Information Management System (PIMS) database via the HRSA Electronic Handbooks (EHB) website. Grantees can call the HRSA Contact Center with any technical questions.

3. Use of Improved Technology

This database is fully electronic. Grantees submit the data electronically via a HRSA managed website. This reduces the paper burden on the grantee and on the SORH program staff.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

The information on technical assistance provided by grantees is unique to the SORH program.

5. Involvement of Small Entities

Every effort has been made to ensure the data requested is the minimum necessary to answer basic questions about the appropriate use of grant funds for the provision of technical assistance. This activity does not have a significant impact on small entities.

6. Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently

Grant dollars are awarded annually; therefore, this information is needed annually by the program in order to measure effective use of grant dollars consistently among all the grantees.

7. Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5

The data are collected in a manner consistent with guidelines contained in 5 CFR

1320.5(d)(2).

8. Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice / Outside Consultation The notice required in 4 CFR 1320.8(d) was published in the Federal Register on June 22, 2016 (Vol. 81, No. 120, page 40704). No comments were received. The following grantees (outside of the agency) have advised on completion times and assure there are no problems with the database. The following grantees were contacted in May 2016 and responded that they had no complaints or issues with submission to the PIMS database.

MN Office of Rural Health and Primary Care
Minnesota Dept. of Health
PO Box 64882
St. Paul, MN 55164-0882
651-201-3859
fax 651-201-3830
Mark Schoenbaum, Director
mark.schoenbaum@health.state.mn.us

WY Office of Rural Health
Wyoming Department of Health
6101 Yellowstone Rd., Ste. 510
Cheyenne, WY 82001

(307) 777-7293
Sharla Allen, Manager
sharla.allen@health.wyo.gov

PA Office of Rural Health
Pennsylvania State University
310 Nursing Sciences Bldg.
University Park, PA  16802
Telephone:  (814) 863-8214
Fax:  (814) 865-4688
Lisa Davis, Director
lad3@psu.edu

9. Explanation of any Payment /Gift to Respondents

Respondents will not be remunerated.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

No individual level data are collected on the TA form, and the data system does not involve the reporting of personally identifiable information about individuals. The SORH program requests only aggregate data on total number of technical assistance encounters provided by the grantee and the total number of clients receiving the assistance.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

The SORH program does not contain any questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Estimates of Annualized Hour and Cost Burden

Form	Number of Respondents	Responses per Respondent	Total Responses	Burden Hours per Response	Total Burden Hours
Technical Assistance Report	50	1	50	12.5	625
Total	50		50		625

Basis for the estimates: Estimates of burden for the information were obtained from consultations with the grantees.

It should be noted that the burden is expected to vary across the grantees. This variation is tied primarily to the type of data system(s) used by the grantees. However, many more grantees are now using a customized commercially available MIS system to track the information, whereas others still rely on paper systems.

13. Estimates of other Annual Cost Burden to Respondents or Recordkeepers/Capital Costs

All grantees currently have the appropriate equipment and internet access to the HRSA website, so there are no capital or startup costs associated with this activity. Based on the average SORH Director salary of $20.00 per hour times 625 hours, the cost burden estimate is $12,500.

14. Annualized Cost to the Federal Government

Preparation and tallying the information is rolled into the duties of the FORHP SORH

program staff. A 0.02 FTE at a GS-13 ($1,800) annually is necessary to provide TA to

grantees, collect the information and compile to final totals for all of the 50 SORH

grantees.

15. Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments

The burden has not changed from the burden shown in the current inventory.

16. Plans for Tabulation, Publication, and Project Time Schedule

There are no plans for statistical analysis or publication of the information. Summary

totals will be calculated for the two GPRA measures.

17. Reasons (s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate

The expiration date will be displayed.

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

This project fully complies with CFR 1320.9. The certifications are included in this

package.