Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Public Comment Request; State Annual Long-Term Care Ombudsman Report-National Ombudsman Reporting System; OMB #0985-0005, 40848-40849 [2021-16132]
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40848
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 143 / Thursday, July 29, 2021 / Notices
of Information Collection: CLIA
Collection of Information Requirements
Related to SARS–CoV–2 Test Results
Reporting; Use: In order to be in
compliance with the new CLIA
mandatory SARS–CoV–2 test results
reporting requirements, laboratories will
need to develop a mechanism to track,
collect, and report test results as well as
update policies and procedures. In
addition, Accreditation Organizations
(AOs) and Exempt States (ESs) will need
to update laboratory standards to reflect
the reporting requirements and update
policies and procedures related to
reporting laboratories that do not report
test results as required.
The CDC has an information
collection request (OMB Control
Number 0920–1299) in order to collect
laboratory data related to the COVID–19
Pandemic Response. The CMS package
(ICR) is for laboratory implementation
and CMS monitoring of compliance
with the CMS–3401–IFC CLIA-certified
laboratory reporting requirements.
The information collected by the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) or its designee, such as
a CMS agent or CMS approved
laboratory accreditation organization,
when conducting inspections will be
used to determine a laboratory’s
compliance with the CLIA SARS–CoV–
2 test result reporting requirements.
During an on-site survey, the Conditionlevel laboratory requirement at 42 CFR
493.41and 493.1100(a) are assessed for
compliance. The information is used by
CMS in determining appropriate Civil
Money Penalties (CMPs) when
laboratories fail to report as required.
Form Number: CMS–10757 (OMB
control number: 0938–1391); Frequency:
Daily; Affected Public: Private Sector
Not-for-profit institutions and State,
Local and Tribal Governments; Number
of Respondents: 77,033; Total Annual
Responses: 308,114; Total Annual
Hours: 1,386,873 (For policy questions
regarding this collection contact Sarah
Bennett at 410–786–3354.)
Dated: July 26, 2021.
William N. Parham, III,
Director, Paperwork Reduction Staff, Office
of Strategic Operations and Regulatory
Affairs.
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
[FR Doc. 2021–16200 Filed 7–28–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4120–01–P
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Jkt 253001
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Community Living
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Public Comment Request;
State Annual Long-Term Care
Ombudsman Report-National
Ombudsman Reporting System; OMB
#0985–0005
Administration for Community
Living, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The Administration for
Community Living is announcing that
the proposed collection of information
listed above has been submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and clearance as
required under section 506(c)(2)(A) of
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
This 30-Day notice collects comments
on the information collection
requirements related to the State Annual
Long-Term Care Ombudsman ReportNational Ombudsman Reporting System
[OMB #0985–0005].
DATES: Submit written comments on the
collection of information by August 30,
2021.
ADDRESSES: Submit written comments
and recommendations for the proposed
information collection within 30 days of
publication of this notice to
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
Find the information collection by
selecting ‘‘Currently under 30-day
Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or
by using the search function. By mail to
the Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs, OMB, New Executive Office
Bldg., 725 17th St. NW, Rm. 10235,
Washington, DC 20503, Attn: OMB Desk
Officer for ACL.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Louise Ryan, Administration for
Community Living, Washington, DC
20201, (206) 615–2299 or by email:
louise.ryan@acl.hhs.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In
compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, ACL
has submitted the following proposed
collection of information to OMB for
review and clearance.
The Administration for Community
Living (ACL) is requesting approval to
collect data for the State Annual LongTerm Care Ombudsman Report-National
Ombudsman Reporting System [OMB
#0985–0005]. This request covers minor
changes and corrections to the current
information collection, with a total of
11,154 annual burden hours. The data
collection tool will enhance ACL’s
ability to understand and report on
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00047
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Long-Term Care Ombudsman (LTCO)
program operations, experiences of
long-term care facility residents and will
reflect changes in LTCO program
operations and long-term supports and
services policies, research, and
practices. States will continue to
provide the following data and narrative
information in the report:
1. Numbers and descriptions of cases
filed and complaints made on behalf of
long-term care facility residents to the
statewide ombudsman program;
2. Major issues identified impacting
on the quality of care and life of longterm care facility residents;
3. Statewide program operations;
4. Ombudsman activities in addition
to complaint investigation; and
5. Organizational conflict of interest
reporting as required by 45 CFR part
1324.21.
Comments in Response to the 60-Day
Federal Register Notice
A notice was published in the Federal
Register on March 10, 2021 (86 FR
13720). There were four public
comments received during the 60-day
FRN. Please see ACLs response to
comment listed below.
Two of the four respondents
(Maryland Ombudsman program and
the National Association of State
Ombudsman Programs (NASOP))
recommended adding a new complaint
code ‘‘infection control.’’
Response: ACL agrees to add one
complaint code ‘‘infection control’’ and
corresponding definition, examples and
reporting tips. The Iowa Ombudsman
program recommended adding
clarifying information to the Code I05
(Housekeeping) to be inclusive of
infection control, ACL will incorporate
its suggestion into the new ‘‘Infection
control’’ code. Two of the four
respondents (Maryland Ombudsman
program and NASOP) recommended
changes to the ‘‘examples and reporting
tips’’ under complaint code J01.
Response: ACL agrees to modify the
‘‘examples and reporting tips’’ on
Complaint Code J01 ‘‘Administrative
oversight’’ to incorporate problems with
a facility planning and responding to an
emergency.
ACL received the following comments
and did not accept them for inclusion in
NORS.
The Maryland Ombudsman proposed
adding more detail and examples in the
description fields in the following cells:
S02, S06, S08, S09, S12.1, and S13
stating that this would give the State
Ombudsman more guidance on how to
approach the narratives and to help
ensure greater consistency across the
country.
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40849
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 143 / Thursday, July 29, 2021 / Notices
Response: ACL in coordination with
ACL’s grantee, the National
Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC)
created in-depth training and training
manuals on all aspects of NORS
reporting, including examples of
narratives for both complaint examples
and systems issues and does not believe
that additional guidance is necessary.
See https://ltcombudsman.org/omb_
support/nors.
The Maryland Ombudsman program
also recommended the addition of a
new complaint code in Facility Policies,
Procedures and Practices (Code J) for
emergency planning complaints. The
Maryland Ombudsman program noted
that there have been many instances of
facilities needing to temporarily or
permanently relocate residents for a
variety of reasons from disasters to lack
of appropriate staff in the building,
facility closure, or the facility did not
have an appropriate plan or did not
have a plan at all.
Response: ACL will not add a new
complaint code, but will modify
complaint code J01 ‘‘Administrative
Oversight’’ to be inclusive of emergency
planning.
One recommendation was to include
the addition of a county field (e.g.,
Federal Information Processing
Standard code). The commenter noted
that although looking at differences/
variation between states is important
and valuable, having the ability to look
at differences/variation within each
state would be immensely beneficial for
the conduct of ACL’s functions and
able to share systems advocacy data.
Additionally, while NORS is one part of
measuring program effectiveness it is
not the only way that ACL determines
compliance with the Older Americans
Act. ACL provides continuous technical
assistance on matters of compliance,
conducted in-depth review of states
compliance with the Ombudsman
program regulation, and worked with
states to develop compliance plans. ACL
also has an on-going project to evaluate
the effectiveness of the Ombudsman
program and has gathered in-depth data
on both state and local level
Ombudsman program’s ability to
conduct systemic advocacy. See https://
acl.gov/programs/program-evaluationsand-reports. In addition, the proposed
data collection would be very
burdensome on state and local programs
to collect and report because the two
recommended data elements include a
sub-set of 10 possible elements to select
and to keep track of the number of
instances of each sub-set ultimately
resulting in 20 new data elements. This
type of data would not add meaningful
information that would benefit ACL
considering the level of effort required
of states to train on this type of data
collection, adapt software and report.
Estimated Program Burden
ACL estimates the burden associated
with this collection of information as
follows: Approximately 11,154 hours,
with 52 state Ombudsman programs
responding annually.
Respondent/data collection activity
Number of
respondents
Responses
per
respondent
Hours per
response
Annual
burden hours
Total .................................................................................................................
52
1
214.5
11,154
Dated: July 23, 2021.
Alison Barkoff,
Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary
for Aging.
[FR Doc. 2021–16132 Filed 7–28–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4154–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Community Living
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
would allow for analytics to be shared
with state ombudsmen and other
programs nationwide.
Response: ACL does not accept this
recommendation because of the level of
burden necessary to gather and report
this level of data.
NASOP made recommendations to
broaden the types of activities reported
on systems issues work performed by
the State Long-Term Ombudsman, the
Office and local Ombudsman entities.
NASOP asserts that this reporting
element would provide needed depth
and clarity about whether a State LongTerm Care Ombudsman has the
necessary independence and resources
to perform systems advocacy as required
by the Older Americans Act. NASOP
proposes that data collected as narrative
examples of Systems Issues is
insufficient and does not have practical
utility without additional data
collection to explain the scope of a
state’s work on systems advocacy. ‘‘By
only collecting two examples of a
systems issue from each state, ACL has
no objective means of determining a
state’s compliance with the Act nor the
independence of the Office. With our
proposed addition data collection in
Table 3, ACL will collect and provide
the public with a more accurate picture
of whether a state program is fulfilling
the requirements of the Act.’’
Response: ACL does not agree with
NASOP’s assessment of the current data
collection on systems advocacy for
several reasons. First, the FY 2020 data
is not yet final and ACL has not been
Notice of Federal Review of the
Missouri Protection and Advocacy
System (P&A)
Administration for Community
Living, HHS.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
Notice.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
19:19 Jul 28, 2021
Jkt 253001
Representatives of the
Administration on Disabilities (AoD),
Administration for Community Living
(ACL), will be conducting a federal
review of the Missouri Protection and
Advocacy System (P&A) on September
13–17, 2021. AoD is soliciting
comments from interested parties on
your experiences with the program, and
strategies employed by P&A in meeting
the needs of individuals with
developmental disabilities and their
families in Missouri. You are
encouraged to share your experiences by
way of email or telephone.
DATES: Comments must be submitted
electronically or via telephone by
September 22, 2021, 11:59 p.m. (EST) in
order to be included in the final report.
Email: Katherine.Cargill-Willis@
acl.hhs.gov.
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
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Telephone: 202–795–7322.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Katherine Cargill-Willis, Administration
for Community Living, Administration
on Disabilities, 330 C Street SW, 1st
Floor, Washington, DC 20201, 202–795–
7322.
Dated: July 23, 2021.
Alison Barkoff,
Acting Administrator & Assistant Secretary
for Aging.
[FR Doc. 2021–16131 Filed 7–28–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4154–01–P
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 143 (Thursday, July 29, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40848-40849]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-16132]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Community Living
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Public Comment Request; State Annual Long-Term Care Ombudsman
Report-National Ombudsman Reporting System; OMB #0985-0005
AGENCY: Administration for Community Living, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Administration for Community Living is announcing that the
proposed collection of information listed above has been submitted to
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance as
required under section 506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995. This 30-Day notice collects comments on the information
collection requirements related to the State Annual Long-Term Care
Ombudsman Report-National Ombudsman Reporting System [OMB #0985-0005].
DATES: Submit written comments on the collection of information by
August 30, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Submit written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection within 30 days of publication of this notice to
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find the information collection by
selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments''
or by using the search function. By mail to the Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, New Executive Office Bldg., 725 17th St.
NW, Rm. 10235, Washington, DC 20503, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for ACL.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Louise Ryan, Administration for
Community Living, Washington, DC 20201, (206) 615-2299 or by email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, ACL has
submitted the following proposed collection of information to OMB for
review and clearance.
The Administration for Community Living (ACL) is requesting
approval to collect data for the State Annual Long-Term Care Ombudsman
Report-National Ombudsman Reporting System [OMB #0985-0005]. This
request covers minor changes and corrections to the current information
collection, with a total of 11,154 annual burden hours. The data
collection tool will enhance ACL's ability to understand and report on
Long-Term Care Ombudsman (LTCO) program operations, experiences of
long-term care facility residents and will reflect changes in LTCO
program operations and long-term supports and services policies,
research, and practices. States will continue to provide the following
data and narrative information in the report:
1. Numbers and descriptions of cases filed and complaints made on
behalf of long-term care facility residents to the statewide ombudsman
program;
2. Major issues identified impacting on the quality of care and
life of long-term care facility residents;
3. Statewide program operations;
4. Ombudsman activities in addition to complaint investigation; and
5. Organizational conflict of interest reporting as required by 45
CFR part 1324.21.
Comments in Response to the 60-Day Federal Register Notice
A notice was published in the Federal Register on March 10, 2021
(86 FR 13720). There were four public comments received during the 60-
day FRN. Please see ACLs response to comment listed below.
Two of the four respondents (Maryland Ombudsman program and the
National Association of State Ombudsman Programs (NASOP)) recommended
adding a new complaint code ``infection control.''
Response: ACL agrees to add one complaint code ``infection
control'' and corresponding definition, examples and reporting tips.
The Iowa Ombudsman program recommended adding clarifying information to
the Code I05 (Housekeeping) to be inclusive of infection control, ACL
will incorporate its suggestion into the new ``Infection control''
code. Two of the four respondents (Maryland Ombudsman program and
NASOP) recommended changes to the ``examples and reporting tips'' under
complaint code J01.
Response: ACL agrees to modify the ``examples and reporting tips''
on Complaint Code J01 ``Administrative oversight'' to incorporate
problems with a facility planning and responding to an emergency.
ACL received the following comments and did not accept them for
inclusion in NORS.
The Maryland Ombudsman proposed adding more detail and examples in
the description fields in the following cells: S02, S06, S08, S09,
S12.1, and S13 stating that this would give the State Ombudsman more
guidance on how to approach the narratives and to help ensure greater
consistency across the country.
[[Page 40849]]
Response: ACL in coordination with ACL's grantee, the National
Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC) created in-depth training and training
manuals on all aspects of NORS reporting, including examples of
narratives for both complaint examples and systems issues and does not
believe that additional guidance is necessary. See https://ltcombudsman.org/omb_support/nors.
The Maryland Ombudsman program also recommended the addition of a
new complaint code in Facility Policies, Procedures and Practices (Code
J) for emergency planning complaints. The Maryland Ombudsman program
noted that there have been many instances of facilities needing to
temporarily or permanently relocate residents for a variety of reasons
from disasters to lack of appropriate staff in the building, facility
closure, or the facility did not have an appropriate plan or did not
have a plan at all.
Response: ACL will not add a new complaint code, but will modify
complaint code J01 ``Administrative Oversight'' to be inclusive of
emergency planning.
One recommendation was to include the addition of a county field
(e.g., Federal Information Processing Standard code). The commenter
noted that although looking at differences/variation between states is
important and valuable, having the ability to look at differences/
variation within each state would be immensely beneficial for the
conduct of ACL's functions and would allow for analytics to be shared
with state ombudsmen and other programs nationwide.
Response: ACL does not accept this recommendation because of the
level of burden necessary to gather and report this level of data.
NASOP made recommendations to broaden the types of activities
reported on systems issues work performed by the State Long-Term
Ombudsman, the Office and local Ombudsman entities. NASOP asserts that
this reporting element would provide needed depth and clarity about
whether a State Long-Term Care Ombudsman has the necessary independence
and resources to perform systems advocacy as required by the Older
Americans Act. NASOP proposes that data collected as narrative examples
of Systems Issues is insufficient and does not have practical utility
without additional data collection to explain the scope of a state's
work on systems advocacy. ``By only collecting two examples of a
systems issue from each state, ACL has no objective means of
determining a state's compliance with the Act nor the independence of
the Office. With our proposed addition data collection in Table 3, ACL
will collect and provide the public with a more accurate picture of
whether a state program is fulfilling the requirements of the Act.''
Response: ACL does not agree with NASOP's assessment of the current
data collection on systems advocacy for several reasons. First, the FY
2020 data is not yet final and ACL has not been able to share systems
advocacy data. Additionally, while NORS is one part of measuring
program effectiveness it is not the only way that ACL determines
compliance with the Older Americans Act. ACL provides continuous
technical assistance on matters of compliance, conducted in-depth
review of states compliance with the Ombudsman program regulation, and
worked with states to develop compliance plans. ACL also has an on-
going project to evaluate the effectiveness of the Ombudsman program
and has gathered in-depth data on both state and local level Ombudsman
program's ability to conduct systemic advocacy. See https://acl.gov/programs/program-evaluations-and-reports. In addition, the proposed
data collection would be very burdensome on state and local programs to
collect and report because the two recommended data elements include a
sub-set of 10 possible elements to select and to keep track of the
number of instances of each sub-set ultimately resulting in 20 new data
elements. This type of data would not add meaningful information that
would benefit ACL considering the level of effort required of states to
train on this type of data collection, adapt software and report.
Estimated Program Burden
ACL estimates the burden associated with this collection of
information as follows: Approximately 11,154 hours, with 52 state
Ombudsman programs responding annually.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Responses per Hours per Annual burden
Respondent/data collection activity respondents respondent response hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total....................................... 52 1 214.5 11,154
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dated: July 23, 2021.
Alison Barkoff,
Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging.
[FR Doc. 2021-16132 Filed 7-28-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4154-01-P
