Supporting Statement A_Generic Meeting Registration

Supporting Statement A

Stakeholder Gatherings for Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)

OMB Control No. 0906-XXXX – NEW

Terms of Clearance: None.

A. Justification

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

This is a request for a new umbrella Generic Information Collection which will allow HRSA to obtain OMB approval for forms related to HRSA meetings. HRSA conducts meetings for various purposes, including conferences, workshops, webinars, trainings, communities of practice, focus groups, and other in-person or virtual gatherings for individuals and organizations that are interested in HRSA programs. To ensure that HRSA has sufficient information to plan, convene, administer, and evaluate the effectiveness of these gatherings, HRSA must collect information from potential attendees, such as contact information, organizational information, logistical information (e.g., preferred delivery methods), accommodation needs, and feedback about the gathering’s content. Furthermore, HRSA may conduct a test of knowledge to see what attendees know about the subject matter before or during the meeting or focus group. After the gathering concludes, attendees may be asked to complete an evaluation form and/or a test of knowledge to measure the gathering’s effectiveness. In some instances, attendees may also apply and/or submit an abstract for prescreening to be selected for attendance. Because these forms are used to provide high-quality services to HRSA grantees and stakeholders, it is authorized by Executive Order 14058, “Setting Customer Service Standards.”

Based on HRSA’s past experiences with planning gatherings, HRSA realizes that there is a general need for receiving OMB approval for such information collection in advance. However, HRSA is often not be able to determine the details of the specific individual collections until shortly before the event is set to take place. The planning for these gatherings is often on a quick timeline and the standard timeline to comply with a full request under the Paperwork Reduction Act could inhibit HRSA’s ability to collect information to inform these activities. The information collected is expected to be low-burden, and uncontroversial. Responses to any information collections under this umbrella ICR for HRSA Stakeholder Gatherings are not required to obtain or retain any benefit. Therefore, HRSA requests an umbrella ICR to allow for quick turnaround requests for these information collections.

As part of this umbrella ICR, HRSA requests that OMB provide a response on individual generic collections within 5 business days. If no response is received and the request meets the purposes, uses and scope outlined in this document, HRSA would then move forward with the proposed information collection. HRSA believes this fast-track process should apply to this information collection, since this information collections will focus on the awareness, understanding, attitudes, preferences, or experiences of HRSA customers or other stakeholders (e.g., funding recipients and their delivery partners, potential funding applicants) relating to existing or future services, products, or communication materials.

2. Purpose and Use of Information Collection

The purpose of collections under this umbrella ICR is to gather appropriate information to plan, administer, and evaluate HRSA gatherings. Expected respondents include attendees and presenters at HRSA conferences, meetings, workshops, webinars, trainings, communities of practice, and other in-person, virtual, or hybrid gatherings. Attendees and presenters may include HRSA funding recipients, individuals seeking to participate in a HRSA-funded program, members of the public who utilize HRSA-funded resources, contractors, researchers, and other members of the public.

An illustrative, but not exhaustive, list of examples of information collection activities related to HRSA gatherings include:

• Registration Forms: Information collected includes name, contact information, organization/affiliation, demographic information (age, race or ethnicity, occupation, and location), and attendee accommodation needs.

  • An example registration form is included in Supplementary Documents as Sample 1_NPDB Webinar Registration Survey. These forms are currently approved under 0906-0084.

• Application Forms for panels, posters, or other presentation formats: For application forms, information collected also includes title, author(s), organization/affiliation, and presentation abstract, in addition to the information contained in the registration form.

  • HRSA does not have an example form to include in this umbrella ICR package.

• Focus Groups: Information collected includes attendee/presenter responses to standard questions regarding topics posed to smaller groups during HRSA gatherings.

  • HRSA does not have an example form to include in this Umbrella ICR package.

• Pre-/Post-gathering Forms: Information collected includes attendee/presenter preferences, feedback, pre-/post-meeting questions, and tests of knowledge in response to standard questions.

  • An example set of post-gathering forms collecting feedback from attendants is included in Supplementary Documents as Sample 2a_Overall Conference Evaluation, Sample 2b_Conference Session Questionnaire, and Sample 2c_Session Evaluation. These forms are currently approved under 0906-0084.

The sample documents we list above are currently approved collections connected to a gathering. In the past, forms associated with gatherings have been submitted under 0906-0084, Voluntary Partner Surveys to Implement Executive Order 12862 in HRSA. HRSA wishes to establish a separate collection for forms related to gatherings since not all forms related to gatherings are directly related to customer satisfaction.

3. Use of Improved Information Technology and Burden Reduction

HRSA and its contractors will use automated information technology using online or web-based tools to collect and process information for collections under this umbrella ICR when feasible. In some instances, however, the most appropriate methodology will involve written or oral responses to brief forms, such as feedback forms provided to give opinions about information materials or brochures. Focus group sessions are expected to be held primarily online. Additional detail on individual generic collections will be provided in the memo accompanying each request.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information

Each information collection instrument will be designed to reflect the specifics of the partner population served by a program. Proposed collections will be reviewed carefully to avoid potential duplication. Information about program plans for partner surveys will also be shared among HRSA staff at an early stage to promote a coordinated effort to collect data. HRSA PRA staff will review and edit any instruments under this umbrella ICR to help ensure that they include only items that provide critical information for conducting the survey or focus group, and the requested information is the minimum required for the intended use of the data.

5. Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities

6. The information collections under this control number will not have a significant impact on small businesses or other small entities. The specific instruments will be short and with minimal burden. Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently

Information collections will typically only be collected once (e.g., to register for or to measure satisfaction with a gathering). In some instances, an information collection will be conducted before and after a gathering (e.g., a test of knowledge conducted before and after a gathering). For annual meetings, information may be collected annually to compare metrics across years. Collection on a less frequent basis would reduce the practical utility of the information and inhibit the program's ability to monitor changes. HRSA PRA staff will review and edit any fast-track collections that fall under this umbrella ICR to help ensure that they do not collect information more frequently than what is required.

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

There are no special circumstances. The information collected will not be used for statistical purposes. If race/ethnicity data is collected, then HRSA will confirm that the data collection is fully compliant with SPD-15 and other OMB guidelines. If the data collection does not comply with OMB guidelines, then an explanation will be provided in the memo submitted to OMB with each collection.

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

Section 8A:

A 60-day Federal Register Notice was published in the Federal Register on June 21, 2024, vol. 89, No. 120; pp. 52067-68. There was one out-of-scope public comment, so no changes to the proposed data collection were made as a result of the comment.

Section 8B:

To further solicit feedback from the public, HRSA will use annual grantee meetings, program hotlines, routine contacts with partners, focus groups, and other qualitative information collection activities to identify areas of interest and concern to partners and will build the design and content of its information collections using this input. HRSA will call upon their in-house statistical staff and the contractors in developing information collection plans. As needed, they may also call upon the statistical resources of the National Center for Health Statistics, which has a questionnaire design laboratory. As appropriate, agencies will establish panels of outside experts to assist in design and implementation of the surveys.

9. Explanation of any Payment/Gift to Respondents

Typically, HRSA does not provide any remuneration to respondents for its information collections. On occasion, however, HRSA may provide a nominal remuneration to survey or focus group participants, as a participation incentive for hard-to-reach groups and to increase the level of diversity in the number and types of participants.

. Should this type of situation arise, the level of remuneration is not expected to exceed $25 for completing the information collection and will depend on the amount of respondent time and expense projected. Any amount of renumeration will be clearly explained in the memo requesting approval of the information collection.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

Personal Identifiable Information (PII) will only be collected to the extent necessary. Respondent data will be kept private to the extent allowed by law. In instances where respondent identity is needed (e.g., for follow-up of non-respondents, or for a longitudinal design), the information collection will fully comply with all aspects of the Privacy and Freedom of Information Acts.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

The information collections falling under this umbrella ICR will not contain questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Estimates of Annualized Hour and Cost Burden

12A. Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

Based on a review of past information collections and planned gatherings, HRSA expects to use this umbrella ICR to obtain OMB approval for materials associated with up to 1,000 HRSA gatherings. HRSA conducted this estimate based on internal HRSA conversations about upcoming gatherings and a review of HRSA’s past gatherings.

To estimate the burden to complete each of these forms, HRSA reviewed the burden estimates of forms from previous HRSA gatherings, which were approved under other packages.

Total Estimated Annualized Burden Hours:

Form Name	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses per Respondent	Total Responses	Average Burden per Response (in hours)	Total Burden Hours
Registration Forms	100,000	1	100,000	0.5	50,000
Applications	10,000	1	10,000	1.0	10,000
Pre- and Post-Gathering Forms	200,000	1	200,000	0.5	100,000
Focus Groups	100,000	3	300,000	3.0	900,000
Total	410,000		610,000		1,060,000

12B.

To estimate the estimated burden costs on respondents, we used the median salary for all professions since a variety of different professions are likely to attend HRSA events (e.g., students interested in applying for a scholarship, current grantees attending a meeting about a program). The latest data that we have from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is that the median weekly salary in the United States is $1,139. To adjust for overhead costs (e.g., benefits) we multiply this amount by 2, for a total of $2,278. Assuming a 40-hour work week, we have an estimated cost of $56.95 per hour.

Estimated Annualized Burden Costs

Type of Respondent	Total Burden Hours	Hourly Wage Rate (x2)	Total Respondent Costs
General Public	1,060,000	$56.95	$60,367,000
Total	1,060,000		$60,367,000

Hourly Wage Rate based on the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/wkyeng.pdf. Hourly wage doubled to account for benefits.

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

Other than their time, there is no cost to respondents.

14. Annualized Cost to Federal Government

Assuming each response takes 30 minutes to review by a GS-13, Step 1 (WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE-ARLINGTON, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA locality), the estimated cost to the federal government to review 610,000 responses would be approximately $19,402,575 ($42.41 per hour x 0.5 hours x 610,000 responses x 1.5 to adjust for overhead costs).

If HRSA incurs any unique start-up or operational and maintenance costs with any information collections covered by this ICR, HRSA will include them in the accompanying fast track memo to OMB.

15. Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments

This is a new information collection.

16. Plans for Tabulation, Publication, and Project Time Schedule

There are no plans for detailed statistical analyses or dissemination of data from collections under this umbrella ICR. Information collections submitted under an umbrella ICR are not intended to be statistically rigorous or produce data for the public. However, data from meeting evaluation and test of knowledge forms may be published in aggregate in documents such as reports to Congress.

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

The OMB number and Expiration date will be displayed on every page of every form/instrument.

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

There are no exceptions to the certification.