[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 246 (Tuesday, December 26, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Page 60998]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-27663]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality


Notice of an Upcoming Challenge Competition

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Department 
of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the intention of the Agency for 
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to conduct a Challenge 
Competition in Fall 2018 to develop user-friendly technical tools to 
collect and integrate patient-reported outcome data in electronic 
health records or other health information technology products.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janey Hsiao, Health Scientist 
Administrator, Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement, Agency for 
Healthcare Research and Quality, 5600 Fishers Lane, Mail Stop 06E73A, 
Rockville, Maryland, 20857, Email: [email protected], Phone: 
(301) 427-1335.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The patient's perspective is central to healthcare decisions 
affecting prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term care. 
Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) critically inform patient-centered 
outcomes research (PCOR) and can inform clinical management of 
individuals, shared decision making, patient self-management support, 
care planning, goal setting and goal attainment. PROs offer a 
complementary perspective to that of clinician assessments, and may 
provide greater insights into health status, function, symptom burden, 
adherence, health behaviors, and quality of life. However, standardized 
tools that collect PRO data in a way that is meaningful and useful to 
both patients and clinicians in primary care and ambulatory settings 
are not widely available.
    The limited inclusion of PRO data in electronic health records 
(EHRs) and other health information technology (IT) solutions reduces 
the understanding and use of the patient's perspective in research and 
clinical care. Further, while some EHRs are currently able to capture 
some structured PRO data, including many of the NIH-funded Patient 
Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System[supreg] 
(PROMIS[supreg]) instruments, this information is not commonly 
collected in routine care. Thus, these data are often not available for 
both clinical care and research. Moreover, standards do not exist for 
collecting and integrating PRO data into health IT systems, thereby 
limiting the ability to easily share these data across health systems 
for research or other purposes including quality improvement.

Proposed Project

    To fill these gaps, AHRQ intends to support the development of 
user-friendly, PRO-collection tools that utilize health IT standards, 
including application programming interfaces (APIs) to collect physical 
function data in ambulatory care settings (including primary care). 
Data element and data capture standards would allow for PRO assessments 
to be conducted and easily shared regardless of what EHR or health IT 
solution is being used. It would also allow for consistency in 
interpretation, and clarify the meaning of results for patient-provider 
communication and shared decision-making.
    The development of user-friendly, PRO-collection tools will be 
conducted though a multi-phase Challenge Competition in Fall 2018. The 
statutory authority for this challenge competition is Section 105 of 
the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010. Only the winners from 
each phase can move on to the next phase so the participant pool 
becomes more limited throughout the competition. Developers will be 
asked to create tools based on implementation specifications provided 
by AHRQ. The tools should enable patients to share their physical 
function data with clinicians and researchers. AHRQ will convene a 
panel to judge the Challenge Competition. The judges of the Challenge 
Competition will evaluate the resulting submissions for adhering to the 
implementation specifications set forth in the Challenge Competition.
    AHRQ will manage the Challenge Competition including developing the 
concept, designing prizes, drafting the Federal Register Notice, 
setting up the Challenge website, answering questions from developers, 
and giving prizes to winners. The Challenge Competition will be 
conducted by AHRQ in furtherance of the Secretary's authority to 
develop interoperable data networks that can link data from multiple 
sources, including electronic health records. 42 U.S.C. 299b-37(f).

    Dated: December 19, 2017.
Gopal Khanna,
Director.
[FR Doc. 2017-27663 Filed 12-22-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4160-90-P