HRSA Eases Reporting for Black Lung Clinics Helping Miners
Published Date: 3/31/2026
Notice
Summary
HRSA is updating how Black Lung Clinics report their yearly progress to make things clearer and easier for them. This affects clinics helping coal miners with lung disease, and HRSA wants your thoughts before finalizing the changes. Comments are due by June 1, 2026, and the update aims to keep the program effective without adding extra hassle or cost.
Analyzed Economic Effects
6 provisions identified: 5 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Survey Questions Deleted, Added, Changed
HRSA will revise the Black Lung Clinics Program performance measures by deleting five questions, adding three new questions, and changing three existing questions. These changes apply to BLCP awardees who submit the measures to HRSA on an annual basis.
Clinical Diagnosis Fields Consolidated
HRSA will replace separate fields for primary, secondary, and other clinical diagnoses with a single consolidated diagnosis datapoint to reduce subjectivity and respondent burden. This change applies to BLCP award recipients when they report clinical diagnosis information.
COVID Data Fields Removed
HRSA is removing COVID-related data fields from the BLCP performance measures because they are less relevant now. HRSA says this removal reduces reporting burden for awardees.
New Cardiology Diagnosis Field Added
A new cardiology diagnosis field will be added to the BLCP performance measures to better capture conditions closely linked to pulmonary disease. This change is intended to help HRSA track population needs and make program updates.
Benefits Counseling Data Expanded
HRSA will enhance benefits counseling measures to collect filing dates and case status details so it can track case timelines and monitor implementation of benefits counseling services. BLCP awardees will report these additional data points annually.
Reporting Burden Hours Remain Same
HRSA estimates the total annualized burden remains 105 hours across 15 respondents, with 1 response per respondent and an average of 7 hours per response. HRSA states there is no change in the burden hours for this ICR revision.
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