Notice2026-11167
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection: Public Comment Request; Information Collection Request Title: Autism CARES Initiative Evaluation, OMB No. 0915-0335-Revision
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
June 4, 2026
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentHealth Resources and Services Administration
Abstract
In compliance with the requirement for opportunity for public comment on proposed data collection projects of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, HRSA announces plans to submit an Information Collection Request (ICR), described below, to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Prior to submitting the ICR to OMB, HRSA seeks comments from the public regarding the burden estimate, below, or any other aspect of the ICR.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 107 (Thursday, June 4, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 107 (Thursday, June 4, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33727-33728]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-11167]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Health Resources and Services Administration
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection:
Public Comment Request; Information Collection Request Title: Autism
CARES Initiative Evaluation, OMB No. 0915-0335--Revision
AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department
of Health and Human Services.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirement for opportunity for public
comment on proposed data collection projects of the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995, HRSA announces plans to submit an Information Collection
Request (ICR), described below, to the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB). Prior to submitting the ICR to OMB, HRSA seeks comments from the
public regarding the burden estimate, below, or any other aspect of the
ICR.
DATES: Comments on this ICR should be received no later than August 3,
2026.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#423223322730352d3029022a3031236c252d34"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="aadacbdacfd8ddc5d8c1eac2d8d9cb84cdc5dc">[email protected]</span></a> or mail the HRSA
Information Collection Clearance Officer, Room 13N82, 5600 Fishers
Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the data collection plans and
draft instruments, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#bcccddccd9cecbd3ced7fcd4cecfdd92dbd3ca"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="433322332631342c3128032b3130226d242c35">[email protected]</span></a> or call Samantha Miller,
the HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer, at (301) 443-3983.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When submitting comments or requesting
information, please include the ICR title for reference.
Information Collection Request Title: Autism CARES Initiative
Evaluation, OMB No. 0915-0335--Revision.
Abstract: HRSA provides funds to support several programs related
to autism, as authorized by 42 U.S.C. 280i-1 (section 399BB of the
Public Health Service Act), as amended by the Autism Collaboration,
Accountability, Research, Education, and Support (CARES) Act of 2024
(Pub. L. 118-180). Through the Autism CARES Initiative, HRSA
strengthens systems of care for autistic individuals and those with
other developmental disabilities and their families. The Autism CARES
Initiative advances several goals, including: increasing awareness of
autism/developmental disabilities and developmental milestones;
improving access to coordinated, high-quality services across clinical
and community settings; addressing workforce shortages through
interdisciplinary training; reducing barriers to timely screening and
diagnosis; identifying and disseminating evidence-based practices;
supporting healthy transition to adulthood; and building a broader
evidence base through research. Engagement with families and
individuals with personal experience in autism and other developmental
disabilities is a key component of all programs to ensure community
needs are prioritized and met. To inform ongoing program monitoring and
continuous improvement, HRSA is conducting a multi-year evaluation that
(1) measures outputs and outcomes across program components (e.g.,
training, research, transition to adulthood, and resource/technical
assistance centers); (2) identifies promising practices and
implementation facilitators; (3) assesses how investments function as a
system to advance shared outcomes; and (4) provides annual, decision-
ready findings for HRSA leadership and project officers. The evaluation
builds on prior Autism CARES assessments by updating the tools to
continue collecting certain data and adjusting to collect data to gain
deeper understanding of the programs. It also leverages existing
administrative reporting (e.g., Discretionary Grants Information
System, approved under 0915-0298; as well as grantee progress and final
reports).
This ICR is a revision to the currently approved Autism CARES
Evaluation information collection and reflects updates to the
evaluation design and data collection approach for the current
evaluation period. The revised collection retains a mixed-methods
framework but introduces targeted changes to instruments, respondent
engagement, and burden estimates. Specifically, the revised data
collection eliminates one-time, grantee-specific, semi-structured
interviews and the research quantitative data collection form included
in the prior clearance, replacing them with semi-structured, time-
limited virtual focus groups designed to elicit cross-program and
systems-level insights. The annual grantee survey is retained as the
primary standardized data collection instrument and refined to support
longitudinal monitoring across all Autism CARES awardees through a
single consolidated response per award. These revisions reduce
redundancy across instruments, streamline data collection protocols,
and shift qualitative data collection toward lower-burden group-based
discussions. As a result of these changes, the estimated burden hours
differ substantially from the previously approved package and reflect a
reduced annualized burden estimate.
Need and Proposed Use of the Information: To complement existing
administrative, grantee-reported data and to minimize duplication, the
evaluation proposes two targeted, low-burden collections that will
support performance monitoring, learning, and quality improvement
across the Autism CARES portfolio:
<bullet> Web-Based Grantee Survey--A brief, program-level web
survey administered annually to the full universe of Autism CARES
awardees (one consolidated response per award from the Project
Director/Principal Investigator). The instrument includes a stable set
of core items by program family (training, research, transition to
adulthood, and resource/technical assistance centers) to track year-
over-year patterns in outputs, activities, successes, challenges, and
perceived impacts. Selected open-ended prompts also capture concise
examples. No personally identifiable information or protected health
information will be collected; responses reflect award-level activities
only. Administration is planned via a secure REDCap configuration with
tokenized links and save-and-return functionality.
<bullet> Virtual Focus Groups--A limited number of virtual focus
group
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discussions conducted each year to elicit qualitative insights that
help explain quantitative patterns and illuminate system functioning
across the portfolio. Topics will rotate across the evaluation period
to address priority themes (e.g., awareness and dissemination;
expanding and advancing the workforce; translating research to practice
improving outcomes; improving youth transition to adulthood; and cross-
cutting systems effects). Participant selection will purposefully
include input from across grantee program components (grantee
leadership/staff, trainees, researchers) and key stakeholders (family
members/self-advocates, partner organizations) to capture a range of
perspectives and surface actionable implementation lessons and
promising practices. Sessions will follow standardized discussion
guides, be recorded on secure platforms, securely transcribed, and
analyzed alongside administrative and survey data to support annual
products and recommendations for improvement.
To reduce burden, the evaluation will use data collected through
existing HRSA grant reporting. These sources include Discretionary
Grants Information System (currently approved under 0915-0298), as well
as grantee progress and final reports.
Likely Respondents: The respondents to the Grantee Survey will be
the 99 Project Directors or Principal Investigators of each award
within the universe of Autism CARES awardees. The focus groups will
engage with grantee leadership, staff, trainees, and researchers as
well as other key stakeholders, including family members/self-
advocates, and partner organizations.
Burden Statement: Burden in this context means the time expended by
people 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 Total
Form name Number of responses per Total per response burden
respondents respondent responses (in hours) hours
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Grantee Survey.......................... \a\ 99.0 1 99.0 0.5 49.5
Grantee Focus Groups.................... \b\ 40.0 1 40.0 1.5 60.0
Stakeholder Focus Groups................ \c\ 12.5 1 12.5 1.5 18.8
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Total............................... \d\ 151.5 .............. 151.5 .............. 128.3
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General: The table reports integer values for the annual number of respondents and responses. In cases when
underlying assumptions about totals over the 4-year period covered by PRA clearance resulted in a fractional
count of respondents per year, that count was rounded upward to the nearest integer. When the estimated
average burden hours are less than one, the table reports the value as the fraction of 60 minutes.
\a\ Assumes all 99 grantees will respond to the survey in each year.
\b\ Assumes 16 focus group meetings with 10 grantee participants over the course of 4 years. Number of
respondents is the average number of participants per year.
\c\ Assumes 5 focus group meetings with 10 stakeholder participants over the course of 4 years. Stakeholders
include self-advocates, family members of individuals with autism, and grantee partner organizations. Number
of respondents is the average number of participants per year.
\d\ The total annual number of respondents is a sum of the rows in the table above and does not adjust for
potential overlap between respondent groups across rows.
HRSA specifically requests comments on (1) the necessity and utility of the proposed information collection for
the proper performance of the agency's functions; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways to
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of information technology to minimize the information collection burden.
Maria G. Button,
Director, Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2026-11167 Filed 6-3-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P
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