GENIC Request Template COVID-19 Disparities (carryover to 2023-2025)

Cover Page

Second Submission of an Approved GenIC Package that Contains Revised
Information Collection Instruments to Improve the Quality of Data Received under
the approved Generic ICR:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Program Performance and Evaluation Office (PPEO)
Performance Measures Project (PMP)
OMB Control Number for current performance measures 0920-1282 (expires
01/31/2023)

Sub-Collection CDC Center, Institute, or Office: Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial
Support (CSTLTS)/Division of Performance Improvement and Field Services (DPIFS)
Project Title: Performance Measures to Address COVID-19-Related Health Disparities
Number and Title of Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO): OT21-2103 National Initiative to
Address COVID-19 Health Disparities Among Populations at High-Risk and Underserved, Including
Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations and Rural Communities
Sub-Collection Point of Contact CSTLTS: Kim Castelin qec1@cdc.gov

Included in this application
•

•

Cover Letter Outlining Changes to Performance Measures

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Second Submission of an Approved GenIC Package Under the Approved Generic ICR :
Performance Measures Project (PMP)

•

Appendix A–Modified PMP Technical Specifications: CDC OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health
Disparities Program Performance Measures Guidance

Appendix B–Modified PMP Reporting Template: Offline Collaboration Aid and Screenshots
of Performance Measures REDCap Data Entry Fields for OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health
Disparities Program Quarterly Reports

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Second Submission of an Approved GenIC Package that Contains Revised
Information Collection Instruments to Improve the Quality of Data Received Under
the Approved Generic ICR: Performance Measures Project (PMP)
OMB Control Number 0920-1282 (expires 01/31/2023)
CIO: Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support (CSTLTS)/Division of Performance
Improvement and Field Services (DPIFS)
PROJECT TITLE: Updated Performance Measures to Address COVID-19-Related Health
Disparities in Support of the Implementation of the OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Grant
PURPOSE AND USE OF COLLECTION:
This is a second submission of an approved GenIC package (OMB Control Number 0920-1282,
approved 01/14/2022, expires 01/31/2023) requesting revised information collection instruments to
improve the quality of data received.
The National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities Among Populations at High-Risk
and Underserved, Including Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations and Rural Communities (OT212103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program) provides funding to address COVID-19 and advance
health equity (e.g., through strategies, interventions, and services that consider systemic barriers
and potentially discriminatory practices that have put certain groups at higher risk for diseases like
COVID-19) in racial and ethnic minority groups and rural populations within state, local, US
territorial, and freely associated state health jurisdictions. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021
(P.L. 116-260), which contained the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations
Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260, Section 2, Division M), provided funding for strategies to improve testing
capabilities and other COVID-19 response activities in populations that are disproportionately
affected and underserved.
The purpose of this new funding initiative is to address COVID-19-related health disparities and
advance health equity by expanding state, local, US territorial, and freely associated state health
department capacity and services. The intended outcomes are to 1) reduce COVID-19-related health
disparities, 2) improve and increase testing and contact tracing among populations at higher risk and
that are underserved, including racial and ethnic minority groups and people living in rural
communities, and 3) improve state, local, US territorial, and freely associated state health
department and community capacity and services to prevent and control COVID-19 infection or
transmission. Recipient work plans and funded activities focus on one or more of four strategies that
align with performance measures:
Strategy 1: Expand existing and/or develop new mitigation and prevention resources and
services to reduce COVID-19-related disparities among populations at higher risk and that
are underserved [three performance measures]
Strategy 2: Increase/improve data collection and reporting for populations experiencing a
disproportionate burden of COVID-19 infection, severe illness, and death to guide the
response to the COVID-19 pandemic [one performance measure]

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Strategy 3: Build, leverage, and expand infrastructure support for COVID-19 prevention and
control among populations that are at higher risk and underserved [one performance
measure]
Strategy 4: Mobilize partners and collaborators to advance health equity and address social
determinants of health as they relate to COVID-19 health disparities among populations at
higher risk and that are underserved [one performance measure]
The performance measures associated with this funding are intended to be used by CDC and
recipients to
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Monitor implementation and progress toward achieving intended outcomes

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Demonstrate accountability to interested parties (e.g., funders, the public) by showing how
funds are being spent
Maximize learning opportunities associated with the implementation and impacts of this grant

•

Recipients are not required to work in all four strategy areas and are therefore expected to report
only on those performance measures that align with their selected strategies. The OT21-2103
COVID-19 Health Disparities Program uses performance measures data to work with jurisdictions to
improve strategy implementation. The performance measures data will also be triangulated with
qualitative progress reporting, work plan data, and other data sources at CDC to generate periodic
program updates. Program updates based on performance measures are disseminated to internal
and external CDC audiences.
NUMBER AND TITLE OF NOFO: OT21-2103 National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health
Disparities Among Populations at High-Risk and Underserved, Including Racial and Ethnic Minority
Populations and Rural Communities
NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING RECIPIENTS: 108 public health jurisdictions (50 state, 50 local, 8
territorial/freely associated state) or their bona fide agents.

DESCRIPTION OF NOFO (check all that apply):
X_

Funds all 50 states

X_

Has budget higher than $10 million per year

X_

Has significant stakeholder interest (e.g., partners, Congress)

Please elaborate:
The OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program is a two-year, $2.25 billion non-research
grant program funded as part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations
Act, 2021, through the US Department of Health and Human Services. Eligible awardees are state,
District of Columbia, local, US territorial, and/or freely associated state health departments (or their
bona fide agents). Local (health departments) governments or their bona fide agents are eligible if
they serve a county population of 2,000,000 or more or a city population of 400,000 or more.

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The program provides flexible funding and technical assistance to eligible state, territorial, and local
public health jurisdictions. The award ceiling for any single jurisdiction is $50 million, and the award
floor is $500,000. Funds were awarded to a total of 108 recipient jurisdictions—50 state, 50 local,
and eight territorial public health jurisdictions or their bona fide agents. Notably, this program has 44
recipient jurisdictions that have not previously received direct funding from CDC. The OT21-2103
COVID-19 Health Disparities Program team responded to requests to make the program as flexible
as possible for recipients and chose to use a grant mechanism instead of a cooperative agreement.
This decision allows recipients to better meet the unique and varied needs and burdens in each
jurisdiction to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant mechanism fit this need for flexibility
better than a cooperative agreement. Progress, lessons, and successes from this program are of
high interest to internal CDC collaborators, senior CDC leaders, and external leaders and partners.
The OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program is complementary and non-duplicative of the
following CDC program activities, public health priorities, and strategies: CDC-RFA-CK19-1904:
2019 Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious
Diseases (ELC) Enhancing Detection Emerging Issues (E) Project: Funding for the Enhanced
Detection, Response, Surveillance, and Prevention of COVID-19—Supplement (ELC COVID-19
Supplement) and CDC-RFA-OT18-1802: Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services
Through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation’s Health.
PERFORMANCE METRICS USED & JUSTIFICATIONS:
CDC has already received approval from OMB to collect aggregate data on performance measures
from OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program-funded jurisdictions for the purpose of
performance monitoring. We are requesting OMB approval for updates we plan to make to
performance measures. The OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program currently collects
quarterly data under the OMB Control number: 0920-1282 (expires 01/31/2023).
The program requests OMB to approve planned updates to the current performance measures. We
are adjusting performance measures to: respond to feedback from recipients and partners, adjust to
evolutions in the pandemic and guidance to U.S. public health jurisdictions, and better align
measures to the infrastructure and capacity building intent of the grant. The updates maintain
alignment with CDC’s Monitoring and Accountability Approach. Performance monitoring of activities
contribute to routine and ongoing communication between CDC and recipients. Performance
monitoring data track recipient progress toward desired outcomes, which helps inform recipient
adjustments to work plans.
The quarterly reporting on performance measures is needed to adequately monitor progress and
adjust activities in a dynamic emergency response context. Additionally, quarterly data collection for
this program is warranted due to the program’s high visibility (both internally and externally to CDC),
the large total funding amount of $2.25 billion, the short two-year period of performance, and the
administration of funds to 44 first-time recipient jurisdictions.
Sixty-four recipients (50 state, 6 local, and 8 territorial and freely associated states) of the OT212103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program also receive funds from the ELC COVID-19
Supplement. Coordination between these two funding streams happened in part through OT21-2103
COVID-19 Health Disparities Program’s use of two ELC COVID-19 Supplement performance

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measures that were further disaggregated by racial and ethnic group. In the update these two
measures will no longer be required but, recipients can still report on them if they choose.The OT212103 Health Disparities Program also uses the same platform as ELC for data collection, Research
Electronic Data Capture (REDCap). The ELC program has effectively used the secure REDCap
platform to streamline collection and use of performance measures and progress-reporting data.
OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program recipients submit aggregated performance
measures data and administrative reports to CDC by completing uniform data collection forms in the
REDCap platform. Attached to this application (Appendix B: Reporting Template) are samples of the
data-entry forms recipients use to report performance measures.
The OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program took proactive steps to reduce the data
collection burden on recipients. The REDCap platform reduces the burden on the 64 overlapping
ELC COVID-19 Supplement recipients as they are already familiar with the platform. The OT21-2103
COVID-19 Health Disparities Program also limits the maximum number of required performance
measures to six. The program has only one performance measure required for all recipients, which
aligns with Strategy 4: Mobilize partners and collaborators. The program asks recipients to report on
the remaining performance measures that align with strategies jurisdictions have selected. This
flexibility means that some recipient jurisdictions may report on fewer than the six required
performance measures each quarter.
The OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program followed a collaborative, iterative process
with input from both internal interested parties at CDC and a subset of recipients participating in the
OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program’s Evaluation Recipient Collaborative. This
process supported the creation of a flexible, overarching logic model. Input from internal CDC parties
informed the selection of the six required performance measures. The OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health
Disparities Program and ELC COVID-19 Supplement recipient jurisdictions avoid double-counting on
the two optional, shared performance measures by reporting only OT21-2103 Health Disparities
Program activities to the OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program and by further
disaggregating reported data by racial and ethnic populations served. Full information on alignment
between program strategies and performance measures is provided in the attached Appendix A:
Technical Specifications. This updated performance measures guidance will be shared with recipient
jurisdictions and posted to the website for the OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program.
Full details on the updated OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program performance
measures, rationale, and their alignment with each strategy are presented in detail in the attached
performance measures guidance (Appendix A: Technical Specifications). The six required and two
optional OT21-2103 COVID-19 Health Disparities Program performance measures are as follows:
1.1 Number of COVID-19 mitigation and prevention resources and services delivered in support of
populations that are underserved and disproportionately affected by type
1.2 OPTIONAL Number of COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 tests completed by test type, result, and race
and ethnicity*
1.3 OPTIONAL Caseload, number of cases per case investigator, and number of contacts per
contact tracer during the data collection period*

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1.4 NEW Delivery and access to testing resources and services in support of populations that are
underserved and disproportionately affected
1.5 NEW Delivery and access to vaccination resources and services in support of populations that
are underserved and disproportionately affected
2.1 Number of improvements to data collection, quality, and reporting capacity for recipients,
partners, and agencies related to COVID-19 health disparities and inequities UPDATED
REPORTING GUIDANCE
3.1 Number of improvements to infrastructure to address COVID-19 health disparities and inequities
UPDATED REPORTING GUIDANCE
4.1 Number and proportion of new, expanded, or existing partnerships mobilized to address COVID19 health disparities and inequities
*Note: OT21-2103 Health Disparities Program measures 1.2 and 1.3 align with ELC Enhancing
Detection Measures. More information can be found in the ELC Performance Measures Guidance
for Project E: Enhancing Detection.

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CERTIFICATION:
I certify the following to be true:
1. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal
agencies.
2. Information gathered is meant primarily for program improvement and accountability; it is not
intended to be used as the principal basis for policy decisions

Theresa L. Armstead -S Digitally signed by Theresa L. Armstead -S

Date: 2022.08.19 12:23:16 -04'00'
Name: ________________________________________________

To assist review, please answer the following questions:
BURDEN HOURS
CDC estimates the average public reporting burden for this collection of information as 140 hours
annually per response from each recipient, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching
existing data/information sources, gathering and maintaining the data/information needed, and
completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and
a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid
OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this
collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to CDC/ATSDR Information
Collection Review Office, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS D-74, Atlanta, Georgia 30333; ATTN: PRA
(0920-1282).
We based estimates for burden hours on the highest possible burden—reporting on all eight
performance measures each quarter. The table below shows estimated quarterly and annual
reporting burden for annual reporting on all eight measures. This includes recipient time to collect
and aggregate data from partners, build and manage reporting systems in jurisdictions, and enter
data into REDCap. For new measures, we assumed that all recipients would have to adjust current
reporting and collection systems. Therefore, we estimate an additional 150 minutes per reporting
period (quarter) for each new measure for a total of 8,400 minutes (approximately 140 hours) for all
eight measures for each recipient each year. This is because new measures expand on data already
being reported through performance measures and progress reports. For updated requirements to
further disaggregate measures 2.1 and 3.1 we expect minimal additional burden as recipients should
be tracking disaggregated improvements already in order to report totals. We anticipate
disaggregating further will only require recipients to add a step to categorize these improvements
before reporting if they are not doing so already.

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Category of
Respondent

Form Name

Participation
Time per
Quarterly
Reporting
Period
(minutes)

Participation
Time per
Year
(minutes)

No. of
Respondents

Total
Annual
Burden
(hours)

State public health
agencies or bona
fide agents

REDCap
Performance
Measures
Report

2,100 per
recipient

8,400 per
recipient

50

7,000

(35 hours)

(140 hours)

Territorial or Freely
Associated States
public health
agencies or bona
fide agents

REDCap
Performance
Measures
Report

2,100 per
recipient

8,400 per
recipient

8

1,120

(35 hours)

(140 hours)

Local public health
agencies or bona
fide agents

REDCap
Performance
Measures
Report

2,100 per
recipient

8,400 per
recipient

50

7,000

(35 hours)

(140 hours)

2,100
minutes per
recipient per
quarter

8,400
minutes per
recipient per
year

108
recipients

15,120
hours

Total

FEDERAL COST:
This cost estimate includes the contractors’ estimated costs and costs for CDC FTE Technical
Monitor. Estimated cost includes coordination with CDC, data collection, analysis, and reporting for
all eight Performance Measures.
The estimated annual cost to the federal government is _$153,001.73__________

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Administration of the Instrument
1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)
[ X ] Web-based
[ ] Email
[ ] Postal Mail
[ ] Other, Explain

Please make sure all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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