SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Information Collection Request Title: Advanced Nursing Education Program Specific Form OMB No. 0906-0089—Revision

Abstract: HRSA provides advanced nursing education grants to educational institutions to increase the supply, distribution, quality of, and access to advanced education nurses through the Advanced Nursing Education (ANE) Programs. The ANE Programs are authorized by Section 811 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 U.S.C. 296j), as amended. This clearance request is for continued approval of the information collection OMB No. 0906-0089.

The proposed revision to Table 2 of the ANE Program Specific Form outlined in the initial public comment request that was published on July 22, 2026, was to remove the Part-Time column under the Nurse Midwife and Nurse Anesthetist specialty headers, based on the requirement that trainees participating in programs for these two specialty areas must be enrolled full-time. Upon further consideration, HRSA decided to retain the Full-Time and Part-Time columns to provide a consistent, comprehensive format that accommodates the varying enrollment requirements across programs and supports accurate and complete data collection. This is important because the ANE Program Specific Form is used across multiple ANE Programs, the majority of which support both full-time and part-time trainees. Therefore, the proposed revision is retracted and the Part-Time column under the Nurse Midwife and Nurse Anesthetist specialty headers in Table 2 will be retained.

In addition, it is proposed that the ANE Program Specific Form, Table 1: Funding Preference section will be updated to collect the combined number of graduates/program completers employed in funding preference settings (Rural Area, Medically Underserved Community, State or Local Health Department) in one row rather than three separate rows (1a, 1b, 1c). Since the funding preference settings are not mutually exclusive and a graduate must only be counted once, this is to avoid confusion for the applicant on which row to include a graduate/program completer, and for greater administrative efficiency.

A 60-day notice published in the Federal Register on July 22, 2026, vol. 91, No. 139; pp. 46126-27. There were no public comments.

Need and Proposed Use of the Information: Section 811 of the PHS Act provides the Secretary of Health and Human Services with the authority to award grants to and enter into contracts with eligible entities to meet the costs of: (1) projects that support the enhancement of advanced nursing education and practice; and (2) traineeships for individuals in advanced nursing education programs. Under this section, HRSA makes awards to entities who train and support nurses characterized as “advanced education nurses.” Section 805 of the PHS Act (42 U.S.C. 296d) requires that in awarding such grants, a statutory funding preference is given to “applicants with projects that will substantially benefit rural or underserved populations, or help meet public health nursing needs in State or local health departments.” For traineeship awards, PHS Act section 811(h)(2) requires special consideration be given to an eligible entity that agrees to expend the award to train advanced education nurses who will practice in designated Health Professional Shortage Areas.

The ANE Program Specific Form allows HRSA to effectively target funding and measure the impact of the ANE Programs in meeting the legislative intent and program goals of supporting the enhancement of advanced nursing education and creating opportunities for individuals in advanced nursing education programs to increase the number of advanced practice nurses, especially in rural and medically underserved areas. Additionally, collecting this data assists HRSA in carrying out the most impactful program and ensuring resources are used responsibly.

Likely Respondents: Likely respondents will be current ANE Programs awardees and new applicants to ANE Programs.

Burden Statement: Burden in this context means the time expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose, or provide the information requested. This includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of collecting, validating, and verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of information; to search data sources; to complete and review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information. The total annual burden hours estimated for this ICR are summarized in the table below. ( printed page 66856)

91 FR 66855