Supporting Statement for State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program
A. Justification
Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is requesting emergency action for this clearance by the Office of Management and Budget no later than 8/20/09. ONC is requesting emergency processing procedures for this application because this information is needed immediately to assure that ARRA funds are used timely and effectively to support electronic health record adoption which will improve the health care and quality. This funding opportunity needs to be made available as soon as possible because they are part of the fiscal stimulus initiative. Moreover, the Vice President would like to announce these opportunities very soon.
The purpose of this program, as authorized by Section 3013 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is to provide grants to States and Qualified State Designated Entities for planning and implementation of interoperable health information technology. The letters of intent are part of the grant application process and assists ONC in planning for the independent review process of the grant applications.
Purpose and Use of Information Collection
The data collected will be used to help established state cooperative agreements to promote health information technology planning and implementation projects to advance appropriate and secure health information exchange (HIE) across the health care system. Awards will be made in the form of cooperative agreements to states or qualified State Designated Entities (SDEs). The purpose of this program is to continuously improve and expand HIE services over time to reach all health care providers in an effort to improve the quality and efficiency of health care. Cooperative agreement recipients will evolve and advance the necessary governance, policies, technical services, business operations and financing mechanisms for HIE over a four year performance period. This program will build off of existing efforts to advance regional and state level HIE while moving towards nationwide interoperability.
Applicants are required to submit a letter of intent to apply for this funding opportunity to assist ONC in planning for the independent review process. This letter will be submitted by the state or State Designated Entity that will act as the applicant on behalf of all states involved in the proposed project.
Use of Improved Information Technology and Burden Reduction
All documents will be submitted electronically using grants.gov
Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information
We are using letters of intent related to applying for a cooperative agreement so the data from other like situations would not be applicable.
Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities
No impact on small business
Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequent Collection
One time data collection.
Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5
No special circumstances.
Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice/Outside Consultation
Due to the emergency nature of the program announcement OMB has waived the FRN requirements for this collection.
Explanation of any Payment/Gift to Respondents
Not applicable
Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents
No personal information will be collected other than general contact information. All grant information will be kept confidential as possible as allowed by law.
Justification for Sensitive Questions
No sensitive information will be collected.
Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours (Total Hours & Wages)
12A. Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
Type of Respondent
|
Form Name
|
No. of Respondents |
No. Responses per Respondent |
Average Burden per Response (in hours) |
Total Burden Hours |
State Health Information Technology Coordinator |
Letter of Intent |
50 |
1 |
10 |
500 |
12B.
Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
Type of Respondent
|
Total Burden Hours
|
Hourly Wage Rate
|
Total Respondent Costs
|
State Health Information Technology Coordinators |
500 |
$58.00 |
29,000 |
Estimates of other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents or Recordkeepers/Capital Costs
There are no additional recordkeeping/capital costs.
Annualized Cost to Federal Government
It will take approximately 50 hours to review approximately 50 letters of intent.
It will be accomplished by two GS-15s step 5 ($65.62 per hour) 25 hours each for a total of $3281.00.
Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments
This is a new data collection.
Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule
Data collection will begin as soon as clearance is received.
Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate
Not applicable.
Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions
There are no exceptions to the certification.
The letters of intent will be reviewed but the data will not be analyzed using statistical methods.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | How to Write and Submit |
| Author | CMS |
| Last Modified By | Seleda.Perryman |
| File Modified | 2009-08-19 |
| File Created | 2009-08-19 |