SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION
OMB # 1405-XXXX,
DS-6561
Under the authority of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3901) and the Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651), the Secretary has the ability to establish a medical program. As specified in 16 FAM 220, paragraph b, the medical program provides medical examinations for applicants for employment and also medical examinations as necessary for members of the Foreign Service and employees of the Department and their eligible family members . The Medical Clearance Program ensures that all members of the Foreign Service, other Department employees, other Agency employees through the ICASS program, and their family members have appropriate medical facilities abroad for any underlying medical conditions.
The information requested on the DS-6561 is required for professional medical staff of the Office of Medical Services to make decisions on the type of medical clearance an individual and family members are assigned. The DS 6561 is used for collecting medical information for employees of the Non-Foreign Affairs agencies and their family members. These individuals typically serve two years overseas and then return to a domestic assignment. This medical clearance, is used by the Office of Medical Clearances to determine posts abroad where the Non-Foreign Affairs employee and family may serve. The information collected is not directly released to any other Federal, State, or local agency. During security investigations certain aspects of the information collected may be released to the investigating agency once a certified need is determined and medical privacy statutes and regulations do not otherwise protect the information.
The DS-6561 is available throughout the Department of State via the e-Forms electronic forms application. The form is scanned as an image into the DOS Electronic Medical Record (EMR). At this time, there is no electronic submission capability that automatically integrates this information collection into the EMR or our Medical Clearances software application. The Office of Medical Services is actively evaluating the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Veterans Administration (VA) EMR software programs.
Although information may appear to be duplicated with other collection instruments, it generally is not, with the exception of basic identification and contact information. Addresses, agency, type of employment, and other information can routinely change during the periods between the medical clearance update. Family members in particular may change status, type of employment, and other information that is collected. Medical information required will routinely change from one clearance exam to the next. Use of the DS-6561 Pre-Assignment for Overseas Duty form allows a full physical and important testing without complex testing that is required of members of the Foreign Affairs Agencies servings long term overseas.
This collection of information does not impact small businesses or other small entities.
Not collecting the required information on the DS-6561 will result in employees and family members of non-Foreign Affairs Agencies to utilize the much more complex DS 1843 for adults and DS 1622 for children. Everyone serving overseas is required to have a physical exam and the DS 6561 is ideal for those serving short term. An example is the federal employees as well as contractors serving in one year assignments to the war zones. The DS 6561 provides and exam and testing to identify underlying medical conditions for which there may not be adequate medical services overseas. Failure to do so willl result in increased costs for the medical program; will not effectively utilize the dollars allocated to the Medical Program; and will increase costs of medical liability claims, disability claims, and other medical/legal costs associated with the Medical Program. The current requirement for a medical clearance is every two years or home leave whichever is shorter. This frequency serves the Department well and obtains the required information at the time that it is needed and not before.
There are no circumstances that would require the information to be collected in the manner described in the instructions for the supporting statement.
A 60 day notice soliciting public comments was published in the Federal Register (Volume 75, Number 51). No comments were received. Consultations from persons outside the agency were not made. The information required on the form is medically necessary information required to make an assignment or clearance determination. The staff of medical clearances routinely reviews the requirements for the information collection to ensure that the information required is timely, represents an accurate picture of the health of the respondent, and is necessary for the decision making process.
The Department does not make any type or form of payment to the respondent.
Medical records and other medical information identified to a particular individual are governed under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, Public Law 104-191. This act states that private health information, as defined in the Act, may only be released to third parties with the consent of the subject individual. As such, no restricted medical information is released to third parties without the written consent of the individual. With the Privacy Act Statement included, there is further assurance of confidentiality as governed by Title 5 U.S.C. 552A.
This form requires a Non-Foreign Affairs employee or family member to provide information regarding mental health status, past mental health treatment, and chronic medical conditions. Although not routinely discussed, except with a person’s health care provider, these questions are necessary to gauge the individual and family members’ ability to be assigned to hardship posts, or posts where medical resources are scarce. The form also requires a discussion regarding any special educational needs that a dependent child may have. This too would preclude some posts for consideration for overseas assignment.
The following data was used in the preparation of the hour burden for the collection of the information required by the form.
a. Number of Respondents: 8,000 per year. [Estimate based upon 40% of approximately 20,000 clearances for spouses, children, and approximately 3000 new applicants to the Foreign Service per year.]
b. Number of Responses: 8,000 per year
c. Frequency of Response: Every two years or home leave whichever is shorter. This change accommodates individuals that are serving in one year war-zone assignments.
d. Annual hour burden: 8,000 hours. The annual burden was estimated using a percentage of the actual number of medical clearances issued in FY2010. It is estimated that a respondent must spend one hour gathering the information, transcribing the information, and submission of the form.
13. Cost of hour burden to the record keeper and respondent is zero.
14. Total cost to the Federal Government is $2,016,000. This was determined using the cost of $0.03 per form for printing on a laser printer times 8,000 pages x four pages per collection which is $96,000. The labor cost to process the form is estimated at $240 per form. The cost of processing the form is therefore 8,000 forms x $240 per form, or $1,920,000. Adding both costs together for the printing and the processing cost, the total cost is therefore $2,016,000.
15. There are no changes in burden.
16. The information collected will not be published or routinely tabulated. The only tabulation that is required is the total number of clearances issued.
17. The Office of Medical Services will display the OMB date on the form. .
18. No exceptions to the certification statement identified in OMB Form 83-I, item 19 have been identified.
This collection does not employ statistical methods in the collection process nor in the use of the information collected.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR |
| Author | USDOS |
| Last Modified By | andruskodf |
| File Modified | 2011-05-18 |
| File Created | 2011-04-26 |