[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 48 (Friday, March 11, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13412-13413]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5401]
[[Page 13412]]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request
AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the intention of the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to request that the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) approve the proposed information collection
project: ``Health IT Tool Evaluation.'' In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, AHRQ invites the public
to comment on this proposed information collection.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by May 10, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz,
Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, by e-mail at
doris.lefkowitz@AHRQ.hhs.gov.
Copies of the proposed collection plans, data collection
instruments, and specific details on the estimated burden can be
obtained from the AHRQ Reports Clearance Officer.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ Reports
Clearance Officer, (301) 427-1477, or by e-mail at
doris.lefkowitz@AHRQ.hhs.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Proposed Project
Health IT Tool Evaluation
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is a lead
Federal agency in developing and disseminating evidence and evidence-
based tools on how health IT can improve health care quality, safety,
efficiency, and effectiveness.
In support of the health IT initiative, AHRQ developed the National
Resource Center (NRC) for Health IT Web site. This site contains a
range of information and evidence-based tools that support the health
IT initiative's work and aims.
With this project AHRQ is conducting an evaluation to assess
whether these tools are reaching their intended audiences, are easy to
use, and provide the information that users expect and need. The
current project is an evaluation of one of the tools available on the
NRC site: The Health IT Survey Compendium. The Health IT Survey
Compendium is a searchable resource that contains a set of publicly
available surveys to assist organizations in evaluating health IT. The
surveys in the Health IT Survey Compendium cover a broad spectrum,
including user satisfaction, usability, technology use, product
functionality, and the impact of health IT on safety, quality, and
efficiency.
The audiences included in this evaluation are health IT researchers
(ranging in experience and expertise from research assistants to more
senior investigators such as university professors) and health IT
implementers (e.g., clinical champions and IT staff at provider
organizations, IT implementation consultants and experts). In the
course of conducting this evaluation, AHRQ will evaluate both users and
non-users (defined as not current but possible users) of the Health IT
Survey Compendium.
The goals of this project are to determine whether the Health IT
Survey Compendium is reaching its intended audiences, whether it is
meeting the information needs and expectations of these audiences, and
whether it is easy to use.
This study is being conducted by AHRQ through its contractors,
Westat and Mosaica Partners, pursuant to AHRQ's statutory authority to
conduct and support research on healthcare and on systems for the
delivery of such care, including activities with respect to health care
technologies. 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(5).
Method of Collection
To achieve the projects' goals AHRQ will conduct the following
activities:
(1) Screening questionnaire--used to recruit research participants
for the needs assessment interviews, usability testing and discussion
groups, which are described below. The questionnaire also has a
demographics section to collect some basic demographic information for
those persons that ``screen-in.''
(2) Needs assessment interviews--consisting of semi-structured
interviews with non-users of the Health IT Survey Compendium. The
purpose of these interviews is to discover and then assess the relative
importance of information needs of the intended audiences of the
Compendium. These interviews will provide the perspective of non-users
of the Compendium in order to elicit unbiased feedback about
information needs. After thoroughly exploring information needs, each
interviewee will be shown the Health IT Survey Compendium and asked to
provide feedback about how it addresses their needs for surveys and
data collection instruments.
(3) Usability testing--focusing on the navigation, ease of use, and
usefulness of the Health IT Survey Compendium. These interviews will
include both current users and non-users of the Health IT Survey
Compendium.
(4) Discussion groups--consisting of eight groups of 6-8
participants each (a maximum of 64 participants across all eight
groups). The majority of the session time will be spent showing the
Health IT Survey Compendium to the participants, and the moderator will
elicit reactions to and opinions about the Health IT Survey Compendium,
its features, and the surveys offered.
The outcome of the evaluation will be a report including
recommendations for enhancing and improving the Health IT Survey
Compendium. The report will provide results about both the perceived
usefulness and the usability of the Health IT Survey Compendium.
Results will be presented for individual audience segments as well as
for the user population as a whole. The report will also include
specific suggestions on how to revise and extend the Health IT Survey
Compendium to make it more useful to health IT researchers and
implementers, and will discuss the general implications of the Health
IT Survey Compendium evaluation for the development and evaluation of
other tools available on the NRC Web site.
Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annual burden hours for each
respondent's time to participate in this evaluation. The screening
questionnaire will be completed by as many as 120 persons and will take
3 minutes to complete on average (only those persons that ``screen-in''
will complete the demographics section). The needs assessment will be
completed by 18 persons and requires one hour. Usability testing will
involve 18 persons and is estimated to take one and a half hours. Eight
discussion groups with no more than 8 persons each will be held and
will last for about 90 minutes. The total annual burden is estimated to
be 147 hours.
Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annual cost burden associated with
the respondent time to participate in this evaluation. The total annual
burden is estimated to be $7,454.
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Exhibit 1-- Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Maximum No. of No. of responses Maximum hours per Total burden
Interview type respondents per respondent response hours
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Screening Questionnaire............. 120 1 3/60 6
Needs Assessment.................... 18 1 1.0 18
Usability Testing................... 18 1 1.5 27
Discussion Groups................... 64 1 1.5 96
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Total........................... 120 na na 147
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Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
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Maximum No. of Total burden Average hourly
Interview type respondents hours wage rate * Total cost burden
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Screening Questionnaire............. 120 6 $50.71 $304
Needs Assessment.................... 18 18 50.71 913
Usability Testing................... 18 27 50.71 1,369
Discussion Groups................... 64 96 50.71 4,868
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Total........................... 120 147 NA 7,454
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* The hourly wage for the participants across the four data collections (screening questionnaire, needs
assessment interview, usability testing interviews, and discussion group interviews) is based upon the mean of
the average hourly wages for Social science research assistants (19-4061; $19.39 per hour); Postsecondary
Health Specialties Teachers (25-1071; $53.88 per hour); Management analysts (13-1111; $40.70 per hour);
Computer and Information Systems Managers (11-3021; $58.00 per hour); Family and General Practitioners
Teachers (29-1060; $81.03 per hour); Pharmacists (29-1051; $51.27 per hour). May 2009 National Occupational
Employment and Wage Estimates, United States, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Division of Occupational
Employment Statistics http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#29-0000.
Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal Government
The estimated total cost to the Federal Government for this project
is $411,641.00 over a two-year period from September 8, 2010 to
September 7, 2012. The estimated average annual cost is $205,821.
Exhibit 3 provides a breakdown of the estimated total and average
annual costs by category.
Exhibit 3--Estimated Total and Annual Cost * to the Federal Government
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Cost component Total cost Annualized cost
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Project Management and $58,140 $29,070
Coordination Activities..........
Evaluation Plan and Protocol 44,908 22,454
Development......................
OMB Submission Package............ 12,362 6,181
Conduct Evaluation **............. 159,991 79,996
Data Analysis, Report and Briefing 118,081 59,041
Documentation and 508 Compliance.. 18,159 9,080
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Total......................... 411,641 205,821
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* Costs are fully loaded including overhead, G&A and fees.
** These activities include the data collections described in this
submission.
Request for Comments
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, comments on AHRQ's
information collection are requested with regard to any of the
following: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of AHRQ healthcare research and
healthcare information dissemination functions, including whether the
information will have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of AHRQ's
estimate of burden (including hours and costs) of the proposed
collection(s) of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility,
and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of information upon the
respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and included in the Agency's subsequent request for OMB approval of the
proposed information collection. All comments will become a matter of
public record.
Dated: March 2, 2011.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
Director.
[FR Doc. 2011-5401 Filed 3-10-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-M