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Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Generic Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Plain English Summary

The government is seeking public feedback on its process for collecting information related to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This process allows for quicker approval of information requests that are generally easy to manage and do not involve major policy changes. Insurance agents and other interested parties can comment on how this information collection affects them, including whether the estimates of the burden it places on them are accurate and how the process can be improved. Agents should consider providing their insights to help shape this information collection process.
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On May 28, 2010, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) guidance related to the "generic" clearance process. Generally, this is an expedited process by which agencies may obtain OMB's approval of collection of information requests that are "usually voluntary, low-burden, and uncontroversial collections," do not raise any substantive or policy issues, and do not require policy or methodological review. The process requires the submission of an overarching plan that defines the scope of the individual collections that would fall under its umbrella. On October 23, 2011, OMB approved our initial request to use the generic clearance process under control number 0938-1148 (CMS-10398). It was last approved on April 26, 2021, via the standard PRA process which included the publication of 60- and 30-day Federal Register notices. The scope of the April 2021 umbrella accounts for Medicaid and CHIP State plan amendments, waivers, demonstrations, and reporting. This Federal Register notice seeks public comment on one or more of our collection of information requests that we believe are generic and fall within the scope of the umbrella. Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding our burden estimates or any other aspect of this collection of information, including: the necessity and utility of the proposed information collection for the proper performance of the agency's functions, the accuracy of the estimated burden, ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected, and the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology to minimize the information collection burden.