SMP Program supporting statement

Supporting Statement for the Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) Program

for FY 2009 – 2011

A. Justification

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

• This is a request for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval of a survey for the collection of performance data for the SMP (formerly the Senior Medicare Patrol) Program.

• Under Public Law 104-208, the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997, Congress established the Senior Medicare Patrol Projects in order to further curb losses to the Medicare program. The Senate Committee believed that retired professionals, with appropriate training, could serve as educators and as resources to assist Medicare beneficiaries and others to detect and report error, fraud and abuse. Among other requirements, it directed the Administration on Aging to work with the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the General Accounting Office to assess the performance of the program.

• The SMP performance measures are required by Congress as part of the Administration on Aging Government Performance Results Act (GPRA).

2. Purpose and Use of Information Collection

• Grantees are required by Congress to provide information for use in program monitoring and for GPRA purposes. This information is collected by the HHS/OIG and is used as the primary method for monitoring the SMP Projects. This information collection reports the number of active volunteers, number of community outreach activities, number of beneficiaries reached by education and outreach activities, and the number of dollars recouped for the Medicare Trust Fund among other performance measures. The information from the current collection is reported by the OIG to Congress and the public.

3. Use of Improved Technology & Electronic Submission

• Grantees are required to submit data electronically. The grantees maintain records of their program activities by entering data into the SMP web-based management, tracking and reporting system, the Senior Medicare Assistance and Reporting Tool for Fraud and Complaint Tracking System (SMART FACTS). The OIG obtains the data for semi-annual performance reports via direct access to the SMART FACTS system.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information

• This is the only method used for collecting data from the SMP Projects.

5. Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities

• No small businesses will be involved in this collection.

6. Consequences of Less Frequent Information Collection

• If the reports were made less frequently than semi-annually, the grantee would be less accountable to the AoA, have less opportunity to receive constructive advice from the AoA, and likely would miss opportunities for mid-course corrections.

• The data are collected twice a year which allows for required performance reports for the use of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) in its report to the Congress for determination of recovery of funds for the Medicare Trust Fund and for the Administration on Aging for the determination of continued funding of these projects.

7. Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5

• None of the listed circumstances applies to this submission.

8. Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice/Outside Consultation

• A notice that AoA was soliciting comments on the information collection requirements relating to SMP (formerly Senior Medicare Patrol) Program outcome measurement was published in the April 13. 2009 Federal Register. No comments received.

• The 30-day Federal Register notice has been submitted to the Federal Register.

9. Explanation of any Payment/Gift to Respondents – N/A

10. Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

• Individuals are not identified in the report. Aggregate data are being collected only on the activities and funds recouped.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

• No information of a sensitive nature is being asked or collected.

12. Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours (Total Hours & Wages)

• The information below shows the estimated annualized burden hours and costs for grantees to enter their data.

12A. Explanation

• The burden hours are based on the number of projects (54), at an estimated time* of 23 hours per month (determined through a brief email to grantees) submitted semi-annually (2). The estimated average time needed to respond (276 per year). Total burden hours are 14,904.

*Estimates calculated with SMP projects’ assistance.

12A. Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

Type of Respondent	Form Name	No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden per Response (in hours)	Total Burden Hours
SMP grantees	SMP Project Semi-annual Report Form	54	2	276	14,904

12B. Estimated Annualized Wages

Type of Respondent	Total Burden Hours	Hourly Wage Rate	Total Respondent Costs
SMP Grantees	14,904	$11.82 per hour	$176,165.28

13. Estimates of other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents or Recordkeepers/Capital Costs

• There should not be any additional costs to the projects beyond those already identified in Item 12 above.

14. Annualized Cost to Federal Government

• The estimated annualized cost to the Federal Government is $29,516.

Staff Hours/Costs

#1 190 hrs. x $41.26 per hour $ 7,839

#2 10 hrs. x $66.20 per hour 662

#3 20 hrs. x $25.11 per hour 502

#4 354 hrs. at $39.62 per hour 14,024

#5 208 hrs. x $3l.20 per hour 6.489

Total Cost to Federal Government $29,516

15. Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments – N/A

16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule

• The OIG publishes an annual memorandum report providing the results of SMP performance data collection. Data collected is used for measuring and monitoring performance of the SMP Projects and providing program results to the HHS budget office, the Congress, the SMP projects, and the public. The data are used in some instances by the media in reporting the activities of the SMP Projects. No other publications are planned for this data.

17. Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate

• We are not seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collected.

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

• There are no exceptions to this request for certification.

B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods

These collections do not employ statistical methods.