[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 193 (Wednesday, October 5, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61707-61709]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-25693]
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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: ``Evaluation of the Technical Assistance to ARRA Complex
Patient Grantees Project.'' In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction
Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, AHRQ invites the public to comment on this
proposed information collection.
This proposed information collection was previously published in
the Federal Register on August 3rd, 2011, and allowed 60 days for
public comment. No comments were received. The purpose of this notice
is to allow an additional 30 days for public comment.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by November 4, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: AHRQ's OMB Desk
Officer by fax at (202) 395-6974 (attention: AHRQ's desk officer) or by
e-mail at OIRA_submission@omb.eop.gov (attention: AHRQ's desk
officer).
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
Evaluation of the Technical Assistance to ARRA Complex Patient
Grantees Project Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA) of 2009, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
awarded $473 million in grants and contracts to support patient-
centered outcomes research. As part of this investment, AHRQ funded
fourteen R21 (exploratory) grants and thirteen R24 (infrastructure
development) grants to generate new knowledge on individuals with
multiple chronic conditions. This work is critical to improve the
understanding of how to prioritize evidence-based services for patients
with multiple co-morbidities and to suggest appropriate adaptations to
guidelines for their care.
In order to support the R21 and R24 complex patient grantees, AHRQ
funded a Learning Network and Technical Assistance Center (LN&TAC) to
encourage collaboration among the researchers and help them share
research methods, definitions and products through in-person meetings,
small workgroups and network facilitation. The LN&TAC will provide the
grantees with technical assistance regarding research design, data
collection, data analysis, public use dataset development, and
dissemination.
Through the LN&TAC, AHRQ will support work to:
(1) Create and support a Learning Network of the complex patient
grantees to facilitate advancement of infrastructure development, as
well as to leverage developments and learning across the program. The
Learning Network will give these grantees the opportunity to share
information with and learn from other research teams, provide resources
for data management and other research-related issues, and synthesize
and disseminate findings that transcend individual projects.
(2) Provide both group and individual technical assistance to
grantees as they address issues of ARRA reporting, infrastructure
development, data sharing, and creation of public use data sets.
(3) Disseminate results, including developing materials targeted to
researchers and policy-makers to describe study results and facilitate
future use of newly created datasets. This will include a marketing
plan to advertise availability of datasets and promote their use.
(4) Develop and implement an evaluation of the above activities
throughout the project.
The purpose of this Information Collection Request is to evaluate
the effectiveness of the LN&TAC. The goals of the evaluation are to:
(1) Ascertain whether expected outcomes of the LN&TAC were
achieved;
(2) Assess whether the LN&TAC met the needs and expectations of the
grantees;
(3) Identify challenges and lessons learned, and determine the
feasibility and advisability of developing similar project models in
the future. This study is being conducted by AHRQ through its
contractor, Abt Associates, pursuant to AHRQ' s statutory authority to
``conduct and support research, evaluations, and training, support
demonstration projects, research networks and multidisciplinary
centers, provide technical assistance, and disseminate information on
health care and on systems for the delivery of such care, including
activities with respect to the quality, effectiveness, efficiency,
appropriateness and value of health care services.'' 42 U.S.C.
299a(a)(1).
Method of Collection
To meet the goals of this evaluation the following data collections
will be implemented:
(1) LN Meeting Evaluation--Grantees who attend the three annual in-
person Learning Network meetings will be asked to complete the LN
Meeting Evaluation to provide immediate feedback about their level of
satisfaction with the meeting (including session topics and speakers)
and make suggestions about how the meeting could be improved.
(2) Group TA Evaluation--Grantees who participate in group
technical assistance activities, such as Webinars and the TA given at
annual meetings, will be asked to complete the Group TA Evaluation to
provide feedback about their level of satisfaction with the group TA
(including session leader), how effective the TA was, and make
suggestions about how the TA session could have been better.
[[Page 61708]]
(3) Individual TA Evaluation--Grantees who request individual
technical assistance will be asked to complete the Individual TA
Evaluation to provide feedback about their level of satisfaction with
the TA (including session leader), how effective the TA was, and make
suggestions about how the TA session could have been better.
(4) Annual Survey--All 27 Complex Patient grantees will be asked to
complete the Annual Survey once a year. This survey is designed to
measure whether, due to their participation in the project, grantees
have experienced changes in knowledge, confidence or attitudes related
to research activities and grant requirements, changes in their
research itself (design, methods, and/or analyses), and/or if
participation has increased collaboration (e.g., sharing methods,
developing new coding, merging data sets) among the Complex Patient
researchers, as well as satisfaction with the LN&TAC in general.
(5) Annual Interview--The Annual Interview will be administered
with a small subset of 5 grantees per year, and will be used to augment
the Annual Survey with more in-depth qualitative data. Therefore,
similar questions will be asked in the Annual Interview as are asked in
the Annual Survey, but the interview will allow for probing and
clarification of answers. Different grantees will be asked to
participate in the interview each year, such that no grantee
participates in the Annual Interview more than once during the three-
year contract.
These evaluation instruments are designed to capture a combination
of quantitative and qualitative data. No claim is made that the results
from this study will be generalizable in the statistical sense. Rather,
this evaluation is aimed at determining the effectiveness of this
particular program.
Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annualized burden hours for the
grantees' time to participate in the surveys and interviews. The LN
Meeting Evaluation will be completed by about 22 grantees and takes
about 20 minutes to complete. The Group TA Evaluation will be completed
by 8 grantees 4 times a year, although not necessarily the same 8
persons each time, and will take 5 minutes to complete. The Individual
TA Evaluation will be completed by about 15 grantees annually and takes
5 minutes to complete. The Annual Survey will be completed by 22
grantees and will take about 10 minutes to complete. Annual Interviews
will be conducted with 5 persons annually and will last 45 minutes. The
total annualized burden hours are estimated to be 19 hours.
Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annualized cost burden for the
grantees' time to provide the requested data. The estimated total cost
burden is about $774.
Exhibit 1--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Number of
Form name Number of responses per Hours per Total burden
respondents respondent response hours
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LN Meeting Evaluation........................... 22 1 20/60 7
Group TA Evaluation............................. 8 4 5/60 3
Individual TA Evaluation........................ 15 1 5/60 1
Annual Survey................................... 22 1 10/60 4
Annual Interview................................ 5 1 45/60 4
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Total....................................... 72 na na 19
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Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
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Average
Form name Number of Total burden hourly wage Total cost
respondents hours rate *
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LN Meeting Evaluation........................... 22 7 $40.75 $285
Group TA Evaluation............................. 8 3 40.75 122
Individual TA Evaluation........................ 15 1 40.75 41
Annual Survey................................... 22 4 40.75 163
Annual Interview................................ 5 4 40.75 163
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Total....................................... 72 19 40.75 774
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* Based upon the mean hourly wage rate for Medical Scientists, except Epidemiologists, from the National
Compensation Survey: Occupational Wages in the United States May 2009, ``U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of
Labor Statistics,'' accessed on April 26, 2011.
Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal Government
The total cost of this contract to the government is $178,137 over
the three years of the project (September 27, 2010, to September 26,
2013). Therefore, the annualized cost to the government of the
evaluation of the Complex Patient LN&TAC is $59,379.
Exhibit 3--Estimated Total and Annualized Cost
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Annualized
Cost component Total cost cost
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Project Development..................... $70,247 $23,416
Data Collection Activities.............. 54,636 18,212
[[Page 61709]]
Data Processing and Analysis............ 31,220 10,406
Overhead................................ 22,034 7,345
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Total............................... 178,137 59,379
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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 health care research and
health care 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: September 26, 2011.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
Director.
[FR Doc. 2011-25693 Filed 10-4-11; 8:45 am]
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