Indian Health Service March 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is given that the Director of Indian Health Service (IHS), under the authority of sections 321(a) and 322(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 248 and 249(b)), Public Law 83-568 (42 U.S.C. 2001 (a)), and the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), has approved the following rates for inpatient and outpatient medical care provided by IHS facilities for Calendar Year 2008 for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and beneficiaries of other Federal programs. The Medicare Part A inpatient rates are excluded from the table below as they are paid based on the prospective payment system. Since the inpatient rates set forth below do not include all physician services and practitioner services, additional payment may be available to the extent that those services meet applicable requirements. Public Law 106-554, section 432, dated December 21, 2000, authorized IHS facilities to file Medicare Part B claims with the carrier for payment for physician and certain other practitioner services provided on or after July 1, 2001.

In compliance with section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 which requires 30 days 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 listed below. This proposed information collection project was previously published in the Federal Register (72 FR 69696) on December 10, 2007 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 directly to OMB. Proposed Collection: Title: 0917-NEW, ``Indian Health Service Customer Satisfaction Survey.'' Type of Information Collection Request: Three year approval of this new information collection, 0917-NEW, ``Indian Health Service Customer Satisfaction Survey.'' Form(s): Tribal Homeowner Survey, Tribal Partner Survey, Annual Operator Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Survey, and Post Construction O&M Survey. Need and Use of Information Collection: The IHS goal is to raise the health status of the American Indian and Alaska Native people to the highest possible level by providing comprehensive health care and preventive health services. To support the IHS mission, the Sanitation Facilities Construction Program (SFCP) provides technical and financial assistance to American Indian Tribes and Alaska Native villages for cooperative development and continues operation of safe water, wastewater, and solid waste systems and related support facilities. The Indian Health Service Office of Environmental Health and Engineering (OEHE), SFCP, ``Customer Satisfaction Surveys,'' will provide the information needed to complete these goals. With the information collected from Tribal homeowners, Tribal leaders, and Tribal operation and maintenance operators the Sanitation facilities programs will make improvements that will result in improved quality of services. Voluntary customer satisfaction surveys will be conducted through phone calls, mail, and the Internet. The information gathered will be used by agency management and staff to identify strengths and weaknesses in current service provision, to plan and redirect resources, to make improvements that are practical and feasible, and to provide vital feedback to partner agencies, Tribal leaders, system operators, health boards, and community members regarding customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the SFCP. Affected Public: Individuals. Type of Respondents: Homeowners who are customers of the OEHE, SFCP. The table below provides: 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(s).