Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Periodically, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) publishes abstracts of information collection requests under review by the Office of Management and Budget, in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of the clearance requests submitted to OMB for review, call the HRSA Reports Clearance Office on (301) 443-1129.

The following request has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995:

Proposed Project: Private Health Insurance Coverage of Immunosuppressive Drugs Survey—NEW

Public Law 106-310, section 2101(b) of Title XXI of the Children's Health Act of 2000, states that the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall provide for a study to determine the costs of immunosuppressive drugs provided to children pursuant to organ transplants and to determine the extent to which health plans and health insurance cover such costs.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has determined the extent of government insurance coverage for immunosuppressive drugs given to children pursuant to organ transplantation. However, HRSA still does not know the extent of private health insurance coverage for immunosuppressive drugs. Analysis of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) database revealed that approximately 45% of pediatric organ transplant recipients list their primary insurer as being private health insurance—this category being the largest insurer of pediatric organ transplant recipients. Little is known about co-payments, limitation on drug usage, etc., in this category of patients.

In order to fulfill the requirements of Section 2101(b), the Division of Transplantation in the Office of Special Programs, HRSA, contracted with the EMMES Corporation to study the costs of immunosuppressive drugs and to conduct a survey to send to approximately 600 families of post-transplant liver and kidney patients who list private health insurance as their primary provider at the time of transplantation. Data collected and analyzed will be reported to Congress. The report will contain information about the extent to which private health insurance covers the cost of immunosuppressive drugs given pursuant to organ transplants and provide recommendations from the Secretary of Health and Human Services about the findings. Once information has been collected and the report to Congress submitted, the information will be incorporated into private databases maintained by the EMMES

Corporation which are closely protected and not available to the public. Analytical requests can be made on the data, but requests are subject to an advisory board and the release in any type of personally-identifiable data or standard analytical file will not be available to the public. The Federal government will not have access to any of the personally-identifiable data. All these measures will assure patient privacy.

Written comments and recommendations concerning the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of this notice to: John Morrall, Human Resources and Housing Branch, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503.