[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 56 (Friday, March 24, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15059-15061]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-05839]
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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 ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Data Through ACTION
III Field-Based Investigations to Improve Health Care Delivery.'' 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 December 20, 2016 and allowed 60 days for
public comment. AHRQ did not receive any substantive comments during
this period. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30
days for public comment.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by April 24, 2017.
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
email at [email protected] (attention: AHRQ's desk officer).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ Reports
Clearance Officer, (301) 427-1477, or by email at
[email protected]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Proposed Project
Generic Clearance for the Collection of Data Through ACTION III Field-
Based Investigations To Improve Health Care Delivery
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is requesting
OMB approval of a generic clearance for purposes of conducting field-
based research to improve care delivery in diverse health care
settings. More specifically, AHRQ seeks this clearance to support
timely and meaningful answers to research questions investigated
through AHRQ's ACTION Program. ACTION III research produces field-
based, stakeholder-informed knowledge about ways to improve care
delivery, and real-world-driven implementation and dissemination of
evidence across diverse care settings. A generic clearance to support
expedited performance of ACTION III research activities would enable
AHRQ to more efficiently meet agency goals while fully meeting the
intent and requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act in a timely
manner.
Collection of the information described in this request is
essential to supporting AHRQ's mission, which is to produce evidence to
make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and
affordable, and to work within HHS and with other partners to make sure
that the evidence is understood and used. More specifically, in support
of this mission, AHRQ initiates and oversees projects with the
following overarching aims:
Expand knowledge about how specific changes to processes
or structures of care delivery might improve care quality;
Develop and test interventions, strategies, tools,
trainings and guidance for putting that knowledge into practice;
Disseminate and implement evidence-based practices across
diverse care settings.
Method of Collection
Information collections conducted under this clearance will be
collected via the following methods:
Interviews--Interviews (telephone or in-person) will be
conducted with clinical or management staff from diverse health care
settings, patients, or other providers or recipients of care with the
purposes of expanding knowledge about how specific changes to processes
or structures of care delivery might improve care quality; obtaining
stakeholder-informed input about how and why an intervention or
strategy will or won't work in a particular real world setting;
identifying contextual factors that facilitate or impede implementation
of complex system interventions or evidence-based practices; and
identifying needs and challenges of intended users of tools and/or
beneficiaries of trainings and other resources.
Small discussion groups/focus groups--Small discussion
groups/Focus
[[Page 15060]]
groups will be conducted with providers or recipients of care from
diverse health care settings with the purposes of obtaining
stakeholder-informed input about how and why an intervention or
strategy is or is not working in a particular real world setting and
identifying needs and gaining user/beneficiary feedback on value and
limitations of prototype redesigned care processes, tools, resources or
trainings.
Implementation Logs will be used to track activities, time
and resource use associated with use of tools, trainings or other
resources and to monitor progress and identify needed revisions to
implementation methods.
Recruitment and Screening Calls will be used to identify
and enroll individuals, groups, or organizations willing to participate
in the broader research study.
Questionnaires or brief surveys will be used to capture
broad, high level staff or patient level feedback on experience with
tools, redesigned care processes, trainings or other resources.
Cognitive Testing of surveys, Web sites, or other
resources will be used to support the development of materials that
resonate and can be understood by intended users.
Collection of published and internal documents,
performance assessments, and other data or information that could
provide important contextual information about the specific settings of
care into which new tools, resources, training or redesigned care
processes will be introduced.
AHRQ will use the proposed generic clearance to obtain field-based,
stakeholder-informed input and feedback about how and why interventions
or strategies designed to improve care quality (i.e., safety,
effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency, and
equity) do or do not work in the real world. Information collected
under this clearance would be expected to increase understanding of how
contextual factors and other key variables might affect the
implementation and effectiveness of specific strategies, interventions
or tools when utilized in particular settings. This knowledge would
help health care providers and other decision-makers consider whether,
when and how to use and adapt such strategies, interventions or tools
to conform to their own needs and to the distinctive characteristics of
the intended settings. Additionally, information collected under this
clearance would be expected to increase AHRQ's understanding of
contextual variables and other factors that facilitate or impede
dissemination and implementation of clinical guidelines, evidence-based
practices, and other research-based findings from the Patient-Centered
Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), National Institutes of Health
(NIH), and other partners.
Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
As described above a variety of instruments and platforms will be
used to collect information from respondents, though few, if any,
single projects would be expected to use all the methods listed.
The average number annual burden hours per year requested (2,189.5)
are presented in Table 1 below, and is based on an assumed average of 5
projects per year (we rounded up the past average of 4.5 projects per
year to 5). The maximum total burden across all three years is thus
6,568.5 hours.
Table 1--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Number of
Data collection type Number of responses per Hours per Total burden
respondents respondent response hours
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Interviews...................................... 375 2 1 750
Focus Groups/Small Discussions.................. 420 1.5 1.5 945
Implementation Logs............................. 20 8 1 160
Recruitment and Screening....................... 139 1 0.5 69.5
Cognitive Testing............................... 40 1 1 40
Questionnaires/Brief Surveys.................... 1000 1 0.2 200
Collection of Internal Documents................ 25 1 1 25
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Total....................................... 2189.5
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Table 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
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Number of Total burden Average hourly Total cost
Form name respondents hours wage rate * burden
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Interviews...................................... 250 500 \a\ $95.05 $47,525.00
(Clinicians--line 1; Patients--line 2) 125 250 \b\ 27.12 6,780.00
Focus Groups/Small Discussions.................. 420 945 \c\ 27.12 25,628.40
Implementation Logs............................. 20 160 \c\ 27.12 4,339.20
Recruitment and Screening....................... 139 69.5 \a\ 95.05 6,605.98
Cognitive Testing............................... 40 40 \c\ 27.12 1,084.80
Questionnaires/Brief Surveys.................... 1000 200 \c\ 27.12 5,424.00
Collection of Internal Documents................ 25 25 \a\ 95.05 2,376.25
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Total....................................... 99,763.63
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* National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United States May 2015 ``U.S. Department of Labor,
Bureau of Labor Statistics'': http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_stru.htm.
\a\ Based on the mean wages for 29-1069 Physicians and Surgeons, All Other.
\b\ Based on the mean wages for 00-0000 All Occupations.
\c\ Based on the mean wages for 29-9099 Miscellaneous Health Practitioners and Technical Workers: Healthcare
Practitioners and Technical Workers, All Other.
[[Page 15061]]
Using average wage rates for relevant job categories from 2016 BLS
data, the total annual costs associated with these data collections per
year are $116,746.13 as shown in Table 2 above, for a total cost for
all three years of $350,238.39.
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.
Sharon B. Arnold,
Acting Director.
[FR Doc. 2017-05839 Filed 3-23-17; 8:45 am]
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