Notice2024-20431
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request
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
September 11, 2024
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 176 (Wednesday, September 11, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 176 (Wednesday, September 11, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73668-73669]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-20431]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request
In compliance with section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 concerning the opportunity for public comment on proposed
collections of information, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA) will publish periodic summaries of
proposed projects. To request more information on the proposed projects
or to obtain a copy of the information collection plans, call the
SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer at (240) 276-0361.
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collections of
information are necessary for the proper performance of the functions
of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents,
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other
forms of information technology.
Proposed Project: PEERS Harm Reduction Evaluation: Point-in-Time Harm
Reduction (PiT HR) Survey
Funded in FY 2022, the Harm Reduction (HR) Grant Program aims to
support community-based overdose prevention programs, syringe services
programs, and other harm reduction services. Funding is used to enhance
overdose and other types of prevention activities to help control the
spread of infectious diseases and the consequences of such diseases for
individuals with, or at risk of developing substance use disorders
(SUD), support distribution of FDA-approved overdose reversal
medication to individuals at risk of overdose, build connections for
individuals at risk for, or with, a SUD to overdose education,
counseling, and health education, refer individuals to treatment for
infectious diseases such as HIV, sexually transmitted infections
(STIs), and viral hepatitis, and encourage such individuals to take
steps to reduce the negative personal and public health impacts of
substance use or misuse. As part of the Harm Reduction grant program
evaluation, conducted through the Program Evaluation, Effectiveness,
and Review Services (PEERS) contract, SAMHSA's Center for Substance
Abuse Prevention (CSAP) is requesting approval from the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) to administer a Point-In-Time Harm
Reduction (PiT HR) survey to better understand the program.
The PiT HR survey will elicit information from participants of the
Harm Reduction Grant Program grantees to assess the extent to which
grantees have achieved CSAP's goals of strengthening harm reduction
programs. Data from the survey will help CSAP better understand: (1)
the socio-demographic and drug use characteristics of participants who
receive HR services and supplies across the country; (2) the HR
services and supplies participants received and unmet needs; and (3)
the social-cultural and structural barriers to receiving HR services
and supplies. This anonymous survey will allow for an assessment of
whether HR programs are reaching high-risk and underserved populations
and populations experiencing behavioral health disparities and will
help guide improvements to the HR Grant Program. The data will be
aggregated across grantee programs to provide CSAP with a national
picture of the population receiving HR services and supplies, the
services and supplies they access, and perceived barriers to ensure the
HR Grant Program meets its goals. Grantees will be provided with brief
grantee-level reports providing actionable information to inform and
strengthen their services. The grantee reports will provide insight
into the populations they serve, the extent to which their services
reach the populations they've identified as priority populations,
whether the program meets the needs of their participants, and what
barriers remain to service access. These reports will inform the
implementation of their programs and help them address gaps in service
delivery. HR Program Grantees do not collect survey data from their
[[Page 73669]]
participants. The PiT HR Survey has been designed to answer questions
that cannot be answered with existing data with minimal burden on
grantees and respondents. It strengthens the evaluation by including
participant voice.
Most HR programs will administer the survey electronically on a
tablet using the web-based survey. Tablets will be provided to the harm
reduction grantees for this purpose during the survey administration
period. The tablets will include an offline data collection function,
which utilizes an app that runs directly from the tablet and collects
and securely stores data on the tablet until or unless the tablet is
connected to Wi-Fi. Once the tablet is connected to Wi-Fi, stored
surveys are automatically uploaded to a secure online database and are
no longer accessible on the tablet. Utilizing the offline data
collection functions ensures that programs can participate even if they
do not have stable Wi-Fi connections. In addition, the audio-enabled
feature will assist participants who want to take the survey but have
vision difficulties or lower literacy levels without requiring staff to
read the survey questions to them. Once uploaded, survey data will be
easily accessible by the PEERS evaluation staff who have access to the
project survey system, allowing staff to provide ongoing data quality
monitoring throughout the process. Grantees will receive financial
compensation to support their efforts to recruit and administer the
survey.
A pen-and-paper version of the PiT HR Survey will be available to
grantees who would prefer this approach when conducting outreach in the
community where the use of the tablets may raise staff safety risks.
Programs that provide outreach services may elect to use the pen-and-
paper or the tablet version of the survey depending on their
preferences and the communities they serve. The pen-and-paper version
of the survey would be read aloud by staff to address literacy
concerns. Completed paper surveys will be stored in locked cabinets in
the HR Grantee Program offices and mailed via certified mail to the
PEERS office. PEERS will immediately store the paper survey in locked
cabinets, accessible only to the PEERS evaluation team. The raw data
will be entered into SPSS and stored on password-protected computers
requiring multifactor authentication. No person outside of the PEERS
evaluation team will have access to the data. All data will be closely
safeguarded, and no institutional or individual identifiers will be
used in reports. Only aggregated data will be reported. SAMHSA and its
contractors will not receive identifiable participant records.
Those who participate in the survey will receive a $25 Visa gift
card to compensate them for the 25-minute duration of the PiT HR
Survey, which includes time for recruitment, consent, survey
completion, and gift card receipt. The primary consequence of not
collecting the PiT HR survey data is that CSAP would not have current
information to understand (1) whether the target populations of the
Harm Reduction Grant Program are being reached; (2) whether the service
needs of the target populations are being met; and (3) the barriers
target populations face in utilizing HR services to inform future grant
programs. No other HR evaluation component brings in the often-
overlooked voice of the recipients of HR services and supplies.
The PiT HR Survey is cross-sectional, therefore the data will be
collected only once from any survey participant. Individual grantees
vary from small entities to large provider organizations. Every effort
has been made to minimize the number of survey items asked of
respondents down to the least number of items necessary to accomplish
the objectives described within. As a result, there is no significant
impact on small entities.
Estimated Total Burden for Harm Reduction Point-in-Time Data Collection
The estimates in this table reflect the maximum annual burden for
the proposed PiT HR Survey at the 25 HR grantee sites funded through
May 2025. These estimates are based on informal pilot testing of the
instrument among PEERS staff.
Table 1--Estimates of Annualized Hour Burden
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Responses
SAMHSA tool Number of respondents per Total number Burden hours Total burden Hourly wage Total hour
respondent of responses per response hours \1\ cost
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PiT HR Survey........................... 25 sites * 50 participants 1 1,250 0.417 521.25 $34.27 $17,863.24
= 1,250.
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\1\ The average hourly wage for a US worker in January 2024 is $34.27 based on US Bureau of Labor statistics. (<a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm">https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm</a>).
Send comments to SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, 5600 Fisher
Lane, Room 15E57A, Rockville, MD 20852 OR email him a copy at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#96e5f7fbfee5f7e6e4f7d6e5f7fbfee5f7b8fefee5b8f1f9e0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1360727e7b60726361725360727e7b60723d7b7b603d747c65">[email protected]</span></a>. Written comments should be received by
November 12, 2024.
Alicia Broadus,
Public Health Advisor.
[FR Doc. 2024-20431 Filed 9-10-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P
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