Billing Code: 4165-15-P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Health Resources and Services Administration
Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for Review and Approval;
Public Comment Request; Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Program
AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department of Health and
Human Services.
ACTION: Notice.
SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, HRSA submitted an
Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and approval. Comments submitted during the first public review of this ICR will be
provided to OMB. OMB will accept further comments from the public during the review and
approval period. OMB may act on HRSA’s ICR only after the 30-day comment period for this
notice has closed.
DATES: Comments on this ICR should be received no later than [INSERT DATE 30 DAYS
AFTER DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER].
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting
"Currently under Review - Open for Public Comments" or by using the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request a copy of the clearance requests
submitted to OMB for review, email Joella Roland, the HRSA Information Collection Clearance
Officer, at paperwork@hrsa.gov or call (301) 443-3983.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Information Collection Request Title: Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement
Program, OMB No. 0915-0387 Revision

Abstract: This program is authorized by the Public Health Service Act, section 330A(g)
(42 U.S.C. 254c(g)). This authority permits the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP)
to award Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement (SHCPQI) grants that expand access
to, coordinate, and improve the quality of basic health care services, and enhance the delivery of
health care, in rural areas. Specifically, FORHP may award grants to provide for the planning
and implementation of SHCPQI activities, including activities related to increasing care
coordination, enhancing chronic disease management, and improving patient health outcomes.
The purpose of the SHCPQI Grant Program is to provide support to rural primary care
providers for implementation of quality improvement activities. The goal of the program is to
promote the development of an evidence-based culture and delivery of coordinated care in the
primary care setting. Additional objectives of the program include improved health outcomes for
patients, enhanced chronic disease management, and better engagement of patients and their
caregivers. Organizations participating in the program are required to use an evidence-based
quality improvement model, perform tests of change focused on improvement, and use health
information technology (HIT) to collect and report data. HIT may include an electronic patient
registry or an electronic health record and is a critical component for improving quality and
patient outcomes. With HIT it is possible to generate timely and meaningful data, which helps
providers track and plan care. HRSA collects information from grant recipients that participate
in this program using an OMB-approved set of performance measures and seeks to extend its
approved information collection.
A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register on February 5, 2024, 89 FR
7724-25. There were no public comments.
Need and Proposed Use of the Information: For this program, performance measures
were drafted to provide data to the program and to enable HRSA to provide aggregate program
data required by Congress under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. These
measures cover the principal topic areas of interest to FORHP, including: (1) access to care, (2)

population demographics, (3) staffing, (4) consortium/network, (5) sustainability, and (6) project
specific domains. All measures will speak to FORHP’s progress toward meeting the goals set.
FORHP collects this information to quantify the impact of grant funding on access to health care,
quality of services, and improvement of health outcomes. FORHP uses the data for program
improvement and grantees use the data for performance tracking. No changes are proposed from
the current data collection effort, but FORHP estimates fewer respondents to align with the
current cohort of grantees and an increase in the average burden per response to account for new
personnel.
FORHP received feedback from awardees that personnel changes result in additional
training needs for new hires, leading to a longer average time to complete the SHCPQI
Performance Improvement and Measurement Systems form. As a result of this feedback, the
estimated average burden increased from 8 hours to 13.5 hours per response.
Likely Respondents: The respondents will be the grant recipients (program grantees, not
patients who receive health care services) of the SHCPQI Program.
Burden Statement: Burden in this context means the time expended by persons to generate,
maintain, retain, disclose, or provide the information requested. This includes the time needed to
review instructions; to develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and systems for the
purpose of collecting, validating, and verifying information, processing and maintaining
information, and disclosing and providing information; to train personnel and to be able to
respond to a collection of information; to search data sources; to complete and review the
collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information. The total annual
burden hours estimated for this ICR are summarized in the table below.
Total Estimated Annualized Burden Hours:

Form Name

Number of
Respondents

Number of
Responses per
Respondent

Total
Responses

Average
Burden per
Response
(in hours)

Total
Burden
Hours

SHCPQI
Performance
Improvement
and
Measurement
Systems
Total

21

21

Maria G. Button,
Director, Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2024-13620 Filed: 6/20/2024 8:45 am; Publication Date: 6/21/2024]

13.5

283.5

283.5