Change Memo Clean

DATE: November 17, 2021

TO: Quinn Hirsch, OMB Desk Officer

FROM: Lisa Wright-Solomon, HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer

_____________________________________________________________________________

Request: The Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) requests approval for non-substantive changes to the Service Provider and Client Reports within the Ryan White Services Report (RSR) for recipients in Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) Parts A and B (OMB # 0906-0039, expires 12/31/2021). The data collection instruments currently consist of three documents: 1) Recipient Report, 2) Service Provider Report, and the 3) Client Report. The proposed non-substantive changes involve the Service Provider and Client Reports as no changes are being proposed to the Recipient Report.

Purpose: The purpose of these proposed changes is to address the HRSA HAB’s RWHAP’s response to the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) Initiative by

• Identifying new clients,

• Identifying new clients who were recently diagnosed with HIV,

• Identifying clients who received some type of service in the previous year,

• Identifying clients who did not receive services in the previous year, and

• Capturing any services provided to clients that do not fit under the existing PCN 16-02 (Eligible Individuals and Allowable Uses of RWHAP Funds) service category definitions.

To achieve this goal, HRSA HAB is proposing to make non-substantive changes to the RWHAP Client Report. These proposed changes include adding the following questions and adding an additional response option for the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) service category for completion by the EHE Initiative funded recipients (and their subrecipients):

1. Is the client new to the service provider?¹

Response options: Yes or No

2. If “No”, did service provider provide at least one RWHAP or EHE Funded Service to the client in the previous calendar year?²

Response options: Yes or No

3. EHE Initiative Services service category

Time Sensitivity: Congress required collection of client-level data under the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program legislation (originally passed in 1990 as the Ryan White Care Act, and amended in 1996, 2000, 2006, and 2009)³. The RSR data provides information about the number of clients served, services provided, client demographics, and clinical data for clients receiving medical care. These data are collected in the online Recipient Report, the Service Provider Report, and electronic upload of the Client Report. The primary purpose of these forms is to provide information to support statutory compliance. In addition to meeting the goal of accountability to the Congress, clients, and the general public, information collected on these reports is critical for HRSA, state and local recipients, and individual providers.

Every year from November through March, the electronic data entry system (HRSA’s Electronic Handbook, or EHB) is opened for all RWHAP grant recipients to prepare and submit RWHAP data for the designated reporting period. Beginning in March 2020, Part A and Part B recipients (and their subrecipients) funded by the EHE Initiative will begin collecting aggregate information on the number of clients receiving specific services and the number of clients who were prescribed antiretroviral medications. These data, which will be reported every four months in a newly developed EHE Triannual Module⁴, would complement the annual information collected through the Recipient, Service Provider and Client Reports of the RSR and other reporting mechanisms.

Designed to be compatible with the narrative and data requirements that are outlined in the client-level, provider, and recipient report guidance, release of the data entry system to the grant recipients is contingent on the approval of the non-substantive changes outlined in this memo. Once the changes are approved and incorporated in the RSR report, additional quality assurance testing will be required before the data entry system can be released.

Recipients will need to begin making changes to their data collection systems to contain required reporting elements on/before March 1, 2020. Recipients are able to submit their contract data within the Grantee Contract Management System year round, and will begin submitting their Recipient and Service Provider Reports within the data entry system on or before February 3, 2021. Given these key due dates, delayed release of reporting requirements will impact the quality and completeness of 2020 RSR data collected by RWHAP grant recipients.

Burden: It is anticipated that the revisions included herein will not impact reporting burden on RWHAP grant recipients.

All proposed changes are indicated with tracked changes in the attached documents.

1 Required for all service providers

2 Required for service providers who are receiving funding for Outpatient Ambulatory Health Services, Medical Case Management and/or Non-Medical Case Management

3 EHE Initiative activities were granted increased Authority under Public Health Service Act, Section 311(c) (42 USC 243(c)) and title XXVI (42 U.S.C. §§ 300ff-11 et seq.)

4 HRSA HAB is developing an information collection request for OMB approval for the EHE Triannual Module

Requested Changes to Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA’s) Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Ryan White Services Report (RSR) (OMB # 0906-0039, expires 12/31/2021), Page 1