Proposed Collection: Indian Health Service Loan Repayment Program; Request for Public Comment: 30-Day Notice, 59077 [05-20331]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
• Indian Health Service

[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 195 (Tuesday, October 11, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Page 59077]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-20331]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Indian Health Service


Proposed Collection: Indian Health Service Loan Repayment 
Program; Request for Public Comment: 30-Day Notice

AGENCY: Indian Health Service, HHS.

ACTION: Request for Public Comment: 30-day Proposed Information 
Collection: Indian Health Service Loan Repayment Program.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with Section 3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995, for opportunity for public comment on proposed 
information collection projects, the Indian Health Service (IHS) has 
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to 
review and approve the information collection list below. This proposed 
information collection project was published in the August 3, 2005, 
Federal Register (70 FR 44662) and allowed 60 days for public comment. 
No public comment was received in response to the notice. The purpose 
of this notice is to allow 30 days for public comment to be submitted 
to OMB.
    Proposed Collection: Title: 0917-0014, ``Indian Health Service Loan 
Repayment Program''. Type of Information Collection Request: Extention 
of a currently approved collection which expires December 31, 2005. 
Form Number: No reporting forms required. Need and Use of Information 
Collection: The IHS Loan Payment Program (LRP) identifies health 
professionals with pre-existing financial obligations for education 
expenses that meet program criteria and who are qualified and willing 
to serve at, often remote, IHS health care facilities. Under the 
program, eligible health professionals sign a contract under which the 
IHS agrees to repay part or all of their indebtedness for professional 
training education. In exchange, the health professionals agree to 
serve for a specified period of time in IHS health care facilities. 
Eligible health professionals that wish to apply must submit an 
application to participate in the program. The application requests 
personal, demographic and educational training information, including 
information on the educational loans of the individual for which 
repayment is being requested (i.e., date, amount, account number, 
purpose of each loan, interest rate, the current balance, etc). The 
data collected is needed and used to evaluate applicant eligibility; 
rank and prioritize applicants by specialty; assign applicants to IHS 
health care facilities; determine payment amounts and schedules for 
paying the lending institutions; and to provide data and statistics for 
program management review and analysis. Affected Public: Individual and 
households. Type of Respondents: Individuals. Table 1 below provides 
the following: Types of data collection instruments, estimated number 
of respondents, number of responses per respondent, annual number of 
responses, average burden hour per response, and total annual burden 
hour.

                                        Table 1.--Estimated Burden Hours
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                                        Estimated
     Data collection instrument         number of     Responses per    Average burden hour per     Total annual
                                       respondents     respondent             response*            burden hours
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Section I..........................             425               1  0.25 (15 min)..............          106.25
Section II.........................             425               1  0.25 (30 min)..............          212.5
Section III........................             425               4  0.25 (15 min)..............          425
Contract...........................             425               1  0.334 (20 min).............          141.95
Affidavit..........................             425               1  0.167 (10 min).............           70.97
Lender's Certification.............           1,700               1  .025 (15 min...............          425
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*For ease of understanding, burden hours are also provided in actual minutes.

    There are no Capital Costs, Operating Costs and/or Maintenance 
Costs to report.
    Request for Comments: Your written comments and/or suggestions are 
invited on one or more of the following points: (a) Whether the 
information collection activity is necessary to carry out an agency 
function; (b) whether the IHS processes the information collected in a 
useful and timely fashion; (c) the accuracy of the public burden 
estimate (the estimated amount of time needed for individual 
respondents to provide the requested information); (d) whether the 
methodology and assumptions used to determine the estimate are logical; 
(e) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information being collected; and (f) ways to minimize the public burden 
through the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other 
technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Direct Comments to OMB: Send your written comments and suggestions 
regarding the proposed information collection contained in this notice, 
especially regarding the estimated public burden and associated 
response time, to: Office of Management and Budget, Office of 
Regulatory Affairs, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, 
Washington, DC 20503, Attention: Desk Officer for IHS.
    To request more information on the proposed collection or to obtain 
a copy of the data collection instrument(s) and/or instruction(s), 
contact: Mrs. Christina Rouleau, IHS Reports Clearance Officer, 801 
Thompson Avenue, TMP Suite 450, Rockville, MD 20852-1601, or call non-
toll free (301) 443-5938 or send via facsimile to (301) 443-2316, or 
send your E-mail requests, comments, and return address to: 
crouleau@hqe.ihs.gov.
    Comment Due Date: Comments regarding this information collection 
are best assured of having their full effect if received on or before 
November 10, 2005.

    Dated: September 4, 2005.
Robert G. McSwain,
Deputy Director, Indian Health Service.
[FR Doc. 05-20331 Filed 10-7-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-16-M