Notice2024-06687
Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for Review and Approval; Public Comment Request; Applications for Deemed Public Health Service Employment With Liability Protections Under the Federal Tort Claims Act for Health Centers, Deemed Health Center Volunteers, and Free Clinic Sponsored Individuals
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
March 29, 2024
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentHealth Resources and Services Administration
Abstract
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.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 62 (Friday, March 29, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 62 (Friday, March 29, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22163-22165]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-06687]
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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; Applications for Deemed
Public Health Service Employment With Liability Protections Under the
Federal Tort Claims Act for Health Centers, Deemed Health Center
Volunteers, and Free Clinic Sponsored Individuals
AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department
of Health and Human Services.
ACTION: Notice.
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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 April 29,
2024.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of
this notice to <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. 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 <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6c1c0d1c091e1b031e072c041e1f0d420b031a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9dedfcedf8efeaf2eff6ddf5efeefcb3faf2eb">[email protected]</span></a> or call
(301) 443-3983.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Information Collection Request Title: Applications for Deemed
Public Health Service (PHS) Employment with Liability Protections Under
the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) for Health Centers, Deemed Health
Center Volunteers, and Free Clinic Sponsored Individuals OMB No. 0915-
xxxx-New.
Abstract: Section 224(g)-(n) of the PHS Act (42 U.S.C. 233(g)-(n))
states that entities receiving funds under section 330 of the PHS Act
and specified individuals of that entity may be deemed to be PHS
employees for the purpose of eligibility for liability protections,
including FTCA coverage, for the performance of medical, surgical,
dental, and related functions within the scope of deemed employment
upon approval of an application for deemed employment. The Health
Center Program and Health Center FTCA Program are administered by HRSA.
Health centers submit deeming applications annually to HRSA in the
prescribed form and manner in order to obtain deemed PHS employee
status, with the associated eligibility for FTCA coverage. Such
applications must be approved by HRSA in a Notice of Deeming Action.
Deemed health centers must resubmit applications annually meeting all
deeming requirements in order to maintain deemed status.
Volunteer Health Professionals (VHPs)
Section 224(q) of the PHS Act (42 U.S.C. 233(q)), extends
eligibility for deemed PHS employee status to VHPs sponsored by deemed
health centers upon approval of an individual deeming sponsorship
application for deemed PHS employment. The Health Center VHP FTCA
Program is administered by HRSA. In order to maintain deemed status for
VHPs, deemed health centers must submit to HRSA an annual deeming
sponsorship application on behalf of individually named VHPs. For
liability protections to apply, such applications must be approved by
HRSA in a Notice of Deeming Action applicable to the individual VHP,
which, absent other intervening facts, generally is applicable to
covered activities within the scope of such deemed PHS employment for a
calendar year.
Free Clinics
Section 224(o) of the PHS Act (42 U.S.C. 233(o)) extends
eligibility for deemed PHS employee status to free clinic health
professionals, including employees, officers, board members,
contractors, and volunteer health professionals, at qualifying free
clinics. The Free Clinics FTCA Program is administered by HRSA. Free
clinics must submit deeming sponsorship applications to HRSA in the
specified form and manner on behalf of named individuals for HRSA's
review and approval. In order to continue to participate in the Free
Clinics FTCA Program and maintain deemed status for individuals, free
clinics must submit to HRSA an annual deeming sponsorship application
on behalf of named individuals. For liability protections to apply,
such applications must be approved by HRSA in a Notice of Deeming
Action applicable to the sponsored individual, which, absent other
intervening facts, generally is applicable to covered activities within
the scope of such deemed PHS employment for a calendar year. Approvals
result in a ``deeming determination'' that includes associated FTCA
coverage for these individuals.
HRSA is proposing to combine the three existing ICRs for these
programs into a single ICR consisting of the three application forms.
The three existing ICRs are: (1) Application for Health Center Program
Recipients for Deemed PHS Employment with Liability Protections Under
the FTCA (OMB No. 0906-0035), (2) Application for Deemed Health Center
Program Award Recipients to Sponsor VHPs for Deemed PHS Employment (OMB
No. 0906-0032), and (3) FTCA Program Deeming Sponsorship Applications
for Free Clinics (OMB No. 0915-0293). HRSA recognizes that the content
of these three FTCA applications differs but is proposing to combine
these three separate ICRs in order to increase efficiencies, decrease
burden on stakeholders, and allow commentors to more easily provide
feedback where applicable to commonalities that may impact all three
ICRs. Pursuant to section 224(g)-(o), and (q) of the PHS Act (42 U.S.C.
233(g)-(o) and (q)), as amended, all three collections are done for the
purpose of collecting information from certain health centers that
receive grant funding under section 330 of the PHS Act and free clinics
to determine eligibility for liability protections, including FTCA
coverage. Applications for these programs must be submitted through
HRSA's web-based application system, the Electronic Handbooks. These
electronic application forms decrease the time and effort required to
complete the older, paper-based OMB approved FTCA application forms. In
order to make the terminology more consistent, the names of the
applications are now as follows: (1) Application for Health Center
Program Recipients for Deemed PHS Employment with Liability Protections
Under the FTCA, (2) Application for Deemed Health Center Program
Recipients to Sponsor VHPs for Deemed PHS Employment with Liability
Protections Under the FTCA, and (3) Application for Free Clinics to
Sponsor Individuals for Deemed PHS Employment with Liability
Protections Under the FTCA. In this single ICR, HRSA is proposing to
update the content of the applications forms, which OMB has previously
approved as three
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individual ICRs. These revisions are described below.
Proposed Revisions
1. Application for Health Center Program Recipients for Deemed PHS
Employment With Liability Protections Under the FTCA
HRSA is proposing several changes to the content of the Application
for Health Center Program Recipients for Deemed PHS Employment with
Liability Protections Under the FTCA, to be used for health center
deeming applications for calendar year (CY) 2024 and thereafter, to
improve question clarity and clarify required documentation. The
application includes: Contact Information, Section 1: Review of Risk
Management Systems; Section 2: Quality Improvement/Quality Assurance
(QI/QA); Section 3: Credentialing and Privileging; Section 4: Claims
Management; and Section 5: Additional Information, Certification, and
Signatures. In addition to minor grammatical changes made for clarity,
the application includes the following proposed changes:
<bullet> A disclaimer regarding training for health center staff
was added to the beginning of the Review of Risk Management Systems,
QI/QA, Credentialing and Privileging, and Claims Management sections.
Review of Risk Management Systems:
<bullet> Questions related to required FTCA trainings for
Obstetrics, Infection Control, the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act, and other specific areas of risk were separated
into four questions, and detailed guidance for Obstetrics training was
added for clarity.
<bullet> To facilitate the verification of compliance with training
requirements, applicants will be required to enter their training
tracking information in a Word or PDF document that will be part of the
information collection tool.
<bullet> To enhance clarity and ensure accurate uploading of
information, the quarterly assessments have been divided into four
separate questions. This change aims to outline the required elements
and information necessary for each risk assessment.
Credentialing and Privileging:
<bullet> The credentialing and privileging section was revised to
include clarification regarding policy and procedure requirements for
temporary privileging.
<bullet> A new attestation question was added to clearly outline
the requirements of Chapter 5 of the Health Center Compliance Manual,
Clinical Staffing regarding Credentialing and Privileging of health
care practitioners.
<bullet> A new question was added to ensure health centers ensure
credentialing and privileging for all provider types, including
Licensed Independent Practitioners, Other Licensed or Certified
Practitioners, and Other Clinical Staff.
Claims Management:
A new claims management question was added to ensure documents
relating to potential tort claims are in the correct format when
transmitted to the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of
the General Counsel's General Law Division.
2. Application for Deemed Health Center Program Recipients To Sponsor
VHPs for Deemed PHS Employment With Liability Protections Under the
FTCA
HRSA is proposing several changes to the content of the Application
for Deemed Health Center Program Recipients to Sponsor VHPs for Deemed
PHS Employment with Liability Protections Under the FTCA, to be used
for deeming sponsorship applications for CY 2024 and thereafter, to
improve question clarity, clarify required documentation, and support
HRSA's analysis and understanding of program impact. The application
includes the following sections: Acknowledgments of Deemed Status
Requirements, Acknowledgment of Required Performance Conditions, and
Information on the Volunteers Sponsored for Deeming. Specifically, the
application includes the following proposed changes:
<bullet> Volunteers Sponsored for Deeming: Since the publication of
the 60-day notice, HRSA has decided to no longer add a new question to
the VHP application tool related to performing activities during
declared emergencies. Instead, HRSA is adopting a new streamlined VHP
Emergency Deeming Sponsorship Application, that may be used by certain
health centers (as identified by HRSA) that are affected by a declared
emergency or other emergency, to seek expedited deemed status for
sponsored VHPs for a limited time period to support short-term staffing
needs based on the impact of the identified emergencies. The purpose of
this streamlined deeming sponsorship application is to facilitate rapid
onboarding of VHPs for health centers affected by a declared emergency
or other emergency situation. This application will be an abbreviated
version of the normal VHP application and will require less attachments
and uses primarily attestation statements. Health centers affected by a
declared emergency or other emergency situation requesting FTCA
coverage on behalf of a subrecipient's VHPs must submit a VHP Emergency
Deeming Sponsorship Application on behalf of each individually named
volunteer health practitioner on the subrecipient's behalf. This tool
will be made available in the Electronic Handbooks at HRSA's
discretion.
<bullet> Credentialing and Privileging: Language has been added to
ensure grantees understand the 2-year requirement for credentialing and
privileging.
3. Application for Free Clinics To Sponsor Individuals for Deemed PHS
Employment With Liability Protections Under the FTCA
HRSA is proposing several changes to the content of the
Applications for Free Clinics to Sponsor Individuals for Deemed PHS
Employment with Liability Protections Under the FTCA, to be used for
deeming sponsorship applications for CY 2024 and thereafter, to improve
question clarity and clarify required documentation. Specifically, the
application includes the following proposed changes:
<bullet> In Section III, ``Sponsoring Free Clinic Eligibility,'' a
note was added to clarify the non-profit status documentation
requirements for free clinics; and
<bullet> In Section VII, ``Patient Visit Data,'' clarifying
language was added to ensure that free clinics provide precise and
accurate data.
A 60-day notice published in the Federal Register on December 13,
2023, 88 FR 86346, received no public comments.
Need and Proposed Use of the Information: Deeming applications must
address certain specified criteria required by law to be approved, and
FTCA application forms are critical to HRSA's deeming determination
process. The application submissions provide HRSA with the information
essential to evaluate the application and make a deeming determination.
Moreover, the application information is also used to determine whether
a site visit is appropriate to assess issues relating to quality of
care and to determine technical assistance needs.
Likely Respondents: Respondents include Health Center Program
funding recipients seeking deemed PHS employee status for purposes of
eligibility for liability protections, including FTCA coverage; Health
Center Program funding recipients that have been deemed as PHS
employees and that seek to sponsor VHPs for deemed PHS employee status
for purposes of eligibility for liability protections,
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including FTCA coverage; and free clinics that seek to sponsor
individuals for deemed PHS employee status for purposes of eligibility
for liability protections, including FTCA coverage.
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:
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Number of Average burden
Form name Number of responses per Total per response Total burden
respondents respondent responses (in hours) hours
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Application for Health Center 1,160 1 1,160 2.5 2,900
Program Recipients for Deemed
PHS Employment with Liability
Protections Under the FTCA.....
Application for Deemed Health 1,156 3 3,468 2.0 6,936
Center Program Recipients to
Sponsor Volunteer Health
Professionals for Deemed PHS
Employment with Liability
Protections Under the FTCA.....
Volunteer Health Professionals 60 1 60 1.0 60
Emergency Deeming Sponsorship
Application....................
Application for Free Clinics to 374 3 1,122 2.0 2,244
Sponsor Individuals for Deemed
PHS Employment with Liability
Protections Under the FTCA.....
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Total....................... 2,750 .............. 5,810 .............. 12,140
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Maria G. Button,
Director, Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2024-06687 Filed 3-28-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P
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