Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request, 47142-47144 [2014-18972]
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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 155 / Tuesday, August 12, 2014 / Notices
Services (HHS) is hereby giving notice
that the National Vaccine Advisory
Committee (NVAC) will hold a meeting
September 9–10, 2014. The meeting is
open to the public. However, preregistration is required for both public
attendance and public comment.
Individuals who wish to attend the
meeting and/or participate in the public
comment session should register at
https://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/nvac.
Participants may also register by
emailing nvpo@hhs.gov or by calling
202–690–5566 to provide your name,
organization, and email address.
DATES: The meeting will be held on
September 9–10, 2014. The meeting
times and agenda will be posted on the
NVAC Web site at https://www.hhs.gov/
nvpo/nvac as soon they become
available.
U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, Hubert H.
Humphrey Building, Room 800, 200
Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20201.
The meeting can also be accessed
through a live webcast the day of the
meeting. For more information, visit
https://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/nvac/
meetings/upcomingmeetings/
index.html.
ADDRESSES:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
National Vaccine Program Office, U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services, Room 715–H, Hubert H.
Humphrey Building, 200 Independence
Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20201.
Phone: (202) 690–5566; email: nvpo@
hhs.gov.
Pursuant
to Section 2101 of the Public Health
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300aa–1), the
Secretary of Health and Human Services
was mandated to establish the National
Vaccine Program to achieve optimal
prevention of human infectious diseases
through immunization and to achieve
optimal prevention against adverse
reactions to vaccines. The NVAC was
established to provide advice and make
recommendations to the Director of the
National Vaccine Program on matters
related to the Program’s responsibilities.
The Assistant Secretary for Health
serves as Director of the National
Vaccine Program.
The topics planned for NVAC
discussion will include a presentation
on the progress of the development of a
National Adult Immunization Plan;
plans by the NVPO to conduct a midcourse review of the 2010 National
Vaccine Plan; the recent findings of a
comprehensive review of vaccine safety;
and an overview of vaccine research and
development efforts for developing
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
VerDate Mar<15>2010
17:45 Aug 11, 2014
Jkt 232001
vaccines for use in pregnant women. In
addition, the NVAC working group on
Vaccine Confidence will present their
findings and recommendations for
NVAC consideration and discussion.
The NVAC also will hear an overview
of Canada’s efforts to strengthen the
Canadian immunization system and an
update on our national progress towards
the Healthy People 2020 immunization
goals. Finally, the NVAC HPV Working
Group will provide an update on its
progress. The meeting agenda will be
posted on the NVAC Web site: https://
www.hhs.gov/nvpo/nvac prior to the
meeting.
Public attendance at the meeting is
limited to the available space.
Individuals who plan to attend and
need special assistance, such as sign
language interpretation or other
reasonable accommodations, should
notify the National Vaccine Program
Office at the address/phone listed above
at least one week prior to the meeting.
For those unable to attend in person, a
live webcast will be available. More
information on registration and
accessing the webcast can be found at
https://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/nvac/
meetings/upcomingmeetings/
index.html.
Members of the public will have the
opportunity to provide comments at the
NVAC meeting during the public
comment periods designated on the
agenda. Individuals who would like to
submit written statements should email
their comments to the National Vaccine
Program Office (nvpo@hhs.gov) at least
five business days prior to the meeting.
Dated: July 29, 2014.
Bruce Gellin,
Executive Secretary, National Vaccine
Advisory Committee, Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Health, Director, National
Vaccine Program Office.
[FR Doc. 2014–19046 Filed 8–11–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150–44–P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request
Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
This notice announces the
intention of the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ) to request
that the Office of Management and
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00061
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Budget (OMB) approve the proposed
information collection project:
‘‘Evaluation of the AHRQ Healthcare
Horizon Scanning System.’’ In
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104–
13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), AHRQ
invites the public to comment on this
proposed information collection.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be
received by October 14, 2014.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should
be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz,
Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, by
email 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
email at doris.lefkowitz@ahrq.hhs.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Proposed Project
‘‘Evaluation of the AHRQ Healthcare
Horizon Scanning System’’
The American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) appropriated
$1.1 billion for comparative
effectiveness research (CER), of which
$300 million was made available to the
Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality (AHRQ). The goal of CER is to
improve patient outcomes by providing
clinicians and patients the information
they need to choose between preventive
and diagnostic treatments, and other
health care options to identify the
options that best fit an individual
patient’s needs and preferences. The
EHC Program was created in response to
Section 1013 of the Medicare
Prescription Drug, Improvement, and
Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003.
To better inform comparative
effectiveness research investments at the
EHC Program, AHRQ used some of the
ARRA funds to develop a horizon
scanning system to identify and monitor
emerging health care technologies and
innovations. While horizon scanning
systems exist in other countries, these
systems do not take into account the
unique political, regulatory, cultural,
and economic context of the U.S. health
care system. To meet this need, the
AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning
System was implemented in November
2010. The AHRQ Healthcare Horizon
Scanning System provides a systematic
process to identify and monitor target
technologies and innovations in health
care and to create an inventory of target
technologies that have the highest
E:\FR\FM\12AUN1.SGM
12AUN1
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 155 / Tuesday, August 12, 2014 / Notices
potential for impact on clinical care, the
health care system, patient outcomes,
and costs. It is also a tool for the public
to identify and find information on new
health care technologies and
interventions. Additionally, the AHRQ
Healthcare Horizon Scanning System
serves as a resource for those involved
in decision making about adoption,
implementation, and coverage of new
health care interventions.
To fulfill its purpose, the AHRQ
Healthcare Horizon Scanning System
performs three functions: (1)
Identification and prioritization of
interventions in late phase development
for tracking and monitoring; (2)
monitoring of target interventions
through the development of detailed
information on interventions in late
phase development; and (3) assessment
of potential impact of target
interventions through the gathering and
synthesizing the perspectives of experts
from various areas of the health care
community about the potential impact
those target interventions may have on
the health care system, clinical care,
patient outcomes, and health care costs.
As the first and only U.S. horizon
scanning system, it is important to
understand whether the AHRQ
Healthcare Horizon Scanning System is
implementing its functions effectively.
This evaluation is also essential to
determining whether the AHRQ
Healthcare Horizon Scanning System is
meeting the needs of patients,
clinicians, private industry, and
policymakers and how it can be
improved to better meet those needs.
The evaluation will address the
following research questions:
1. How successfully did the AHRQ
Healthcare Horizon Scanning System
identify and prioritize interventions for
monitoring?
2. How successfully did the AHRQ
Healthcare Horizon Scanning System
monitor the selected target
interventions?
3. How accurately did the AHRQ
Healthcare Horizon Scanning System
assess the potential impact of the
interventions?
4. How can the processes for
identification, prioritization,
monitoring, and assessment of potential
impact of the interventions be
improved?
This research has the following goals:
1. To assess the performance of the
AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning
System in the identification and
prioritization of interventions which are
important topics for further assessment.
2. To assess the performance of the
AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning
System in terms of the quality of
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17:45 Aug 11, 2014
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information provided on the topics
selected, and the accuracy of the
assessment of potential impact.
3. To identify which, if any, of these
areas of performance may require
improvement so as to strengthen the
effectiveness of the AHRQ Healthcare
Horizon Scanning System.
This evaluation is being conducted by
AHRQ through its contractor, ECRI
Institute, and ECRI’s subcontractor,
Mathematica Policy Research, pursuant
to AHRQ’s statutory authority to
conduct and support research 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 and with respect to
quality measurement and improvement.
42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(1) and (2).
Method of Collection
To achieve the goals of this project the
following data collections will be
implemented:
1. Expert Survey—The purpose of this
survey, completed by domain experts, is
to measure the accuracy and
completeness of the AHRQ Healthcare
Horizon Scanning System Potential
High Impact reports and to collect their
assessment of the potential for high
impact for the included Potential High
Impact interventions.
2. Expert Consultation—The purpose
of this consultation with experts is to
confirm the cases of inaccurate or
missing information identified by a sole
expert in the Expert Survey.
3. Stakeholder Survey—The purpose
of this survey, completed by
stakeholders and likely users of the
reports issued by the AHRQ Healthcare
Horizon Scanning System, is to rate the
relevance, clarity, and usefulness of the
Potential High Impact reports.
4. Key Informant Interview—The
purpose of these interviews of the
AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning
System staff is to learn about areas and
suggestions for improvement in the
identification, monitoring, and impact
assessment processes.
The data collected by the Expert
Survey will be used to measure the
accuracy and completeness of the
Potential High Impact reports and the
accuracy of the potential for high impact
assessments. If the expert survey
identifies cases of inaccurate or missing
information that are not reported by
multiple experts, we will conduct an
Expert Consultation with another expert
to confirm these cases. Accuracy of the
potential for high impact assessments
will be measured by the level of
sensitivity (if experts agree that the
Potential High Impact interventions
PO 00000
Frm 00062
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
47143
identified by the AHRQ Healthcare
Horizon Scanning System are high
impact interventions) and specificity (if
experts agree that the No Potential High
Impact interventions identified by the
AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning
System should be excluded from the
group of Potential High Impact
interventions).
The Stakeholder Survey will collect
data to measure the usability of the
Potential High Impact reports and the
specific report sections that include the
potential high impact assessment,
summary, and synthesis of expert
comments. These data will be used to
inform the improvement of the format
and content of the report. The survey
will also collect information on the
sources and media these stakeholders
use to find CER information to help
AHRQ better target distribution of these
reports to stakeholders.
A series of semi-structured Key
Informant Interviews will be conducted
with staff and domain experts at ECRI
Institute and other organizations that
participate in the AIIRQ Healthcare
Horizon Scanning System in order to
identify opportunities for improvements
to the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon
Scanning System process. Qualitative
interviews are the main vehicle for
gathering data to (1) learn which
elements of the AHRQ Healthcare
Horizon Scanning System Protocol are
working well and the reasons why they
are working well; and (2) understand
which elements of the AHRQ Healthcare
Horizon Scanning System Protocol can
be improved, how they might be
improved, and the relative importance
of suggested improvements.
All of these information collection
activities will allow for an evaluation of
the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning
System, thereby creating the
opportunity to both maintain and
improve this important national
resource. The findings will be presented
in a report to ECRI Institute and AHRQ.
Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
Mathematica expects a response rate
of 80 percent from the sample of 67
experts for the Expert Survey ¥54
completed surveys. The Expert Survey
is expected to require about 20 minutes,
on average, to complete. Mathematica
expects that Expert Consultation with
15 experts will be needed to confirm
cases of inaccurate or missing
information identified in the Expert
Survey. The follow-ups should be about
10 minutes.
For the Stakeholder Survey,
Mathematica expects that 30 percent of
the sample of 700 stakeholders will be
ineligible (i.e. will not find any of the
E:\FR\FM\12AUN1.SGM
12AUN1
47144
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 155 / Tuesday, August 12, 2014 / Notices
presented reports relevant and therefore
unable to rate a report) and that 65
percent of the eligible sample will
complete, resulting in 319 completes. It
should take about 30 minutes to
complete the Stakeholder Survey.
Mathematica will conduct seniistructured Key Informant Interviews, on
average lasting 50 minutes, with 23
respondents.
EXHIBIT 1—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS
Number of
responses per
respondent
Number of
respondents
Form name
Hours per
response
Total burden
hours
Expert Survey ..................................................................................................
Expert Consultation .........................................................................................
Stakeholder Survey .........................................................................................
Key Informant Interviews .................................................................................
54
15
319
23
1
1
1
1
.33
.17
.50
.83
18
3
160
19
Total ..........................................................................................................
411
........................
........................
200
EXHIBIT 2—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN
Number of
respondents
Form name
Total burden
hours
Average
hourly wage
rate *
Total cost
burden
Expert Survey ..................................................................................................
Expert Consultation .........................................................................................
Stakeholder Survey .........................................................................................
Key Informant Interviews .................................................................................
54
15
319
23
17.8
2.5
59.5
19.1
$92.25
** 92.25
*** 48.72
38.68
$1,642
231
7,771
739
Total ..........................................................................................................
411
........................
........................
10,383
* May 2013 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
** Based on average wage for physicians and surgeons.
*** Based on average wage for medical and health services managers.
**** Based on average wage for social scientists and related workers.
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Request for Comments
In accordance with the above-cited
Paperwork Reduction Act legislation,
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.
VerDate Mar<15>2010
17:45 Aug 11, 2014
Jkt 232001
Dated: July 30 2014.
Richard Kronick,
AHRQ Director.
[FR Doc. 2014–18972 Filed 8–11–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160–90–M
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services
[Document Identifier: CMS–10305]
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Proposed Collection;
Extension of Comment Period
Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS.
ACTION: Agency information collection
activities: Proposed collection; comment
request; extension of comment period.
AGENCY:
This notice extends the
comment period for a 60-day notice
request for proposed information
collection request associated with the
notice [Document Identifier: CMS–
10305] entitled ‘‘Medicare Part C and
Part D Data Validation’’ that was
published in the June 13, 2014 (79 FR
33927) Federal Register. The comment
period for the information collection
request, which would have ended on
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00063
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
August 12, 2014, is extended to August
26, 2014.
DATES: The comment period for the
information collection request
published in the June 13, 2014, Federal
Register (79 FR 33927) is extended to
August 26, 2014.
ADDRESSES: When commenting, please
reference the document identifier or
OMB control number. To be assured
consideration, comments and
recommendations must be submitted in
any one of the following ways:
1. Electronically. You may send your
comments electronically to https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for ‘‘Comment or
Submission’’ or ‘‘More Search Options’’
to find the information collection
document(s) that are accepting
comments.
2. By regular mail. You may mail
written comments to the following
address: CMS, Office of Strategic
Operations and Regulatory Affairs,
Division of Regulations Development,
Attention: Document Identifier/OMB
Control Number lll, Room C4–26–
05, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore,
Maryland 21244–1850.
To obtain copies of a supporting
statement and any related forms for the
proposed collection(s) summarized in
this notice, you may make your request
using one of following:
E:\FR\FM\12AUN1.SGM
12AUN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 155 (Tuesday, August 12, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47142-47144]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-18972]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System.''
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-
13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), AHRQ invites the public to comment on
this proposed information collection.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by October 14, 2014.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz,
Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, by email 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 email at
doris.lefkowitz@ahrq.hhs.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Proposed Project
``Evaluation of the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System''
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) appropriated $1.1
billion for comparative effectiveness research (CER), of which $300
million was made available to the Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality (AHRQ). The goal of CER is to improve patient outcomes by
providing clinicians and patients the information they need to choose
between preventive and diagnostic treatments, and other health care
options to identify the options that best fit an individual patient's
needs and preferences. The EHC Program was created in response to
Section 1013 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and
Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003.
To better inform comparative effectiveness research investments at
the EHC Program, AHRQ used some of the ARRA funds to develop a horizon
scanning system to identify and monitor emerging health care
technologies and innovations. While horizon scanning systems exist in
other countries, these systems do not take into account the unique
political, regulatory, cultural, and economic context of the U.S.
health care system. To meet this need, the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon
Scanning System was implemented in November 2010. The AHRQ Healthcare
Horizon Scanning System provides a systematic process to identify and
monitor target technologies and innovations in health care and to
create an inventory of target technologies that have the highest
[[Page 47143]]
potential for impact on clinical care, the health care system, patient
outcomes, and costs. It is also a tool for the public to identify and
find information on new health care technologies and interventions.
Additionally, the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System serves as a
resource for those involved in decision making about adoption,
implementation, and coverage of new health care interventions.
To fulfill its purpose, the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System
performs three functions: (1) Identification and prioritization of
interventions in late phase development for tracking and monitoring;
(2) monitoring of target interventions through the development of
detailed information on interventions in late phase development; and
(3) assessment of potential impact of target interventions through the
gathering and synthesizing the perspectives of experts from various
areas of the health care community about the potential impact those
target interventions may have on the health care system, clinical care,
patient outcomes, and health care costs.
As the first and only U.S. horizon scanning system, it is important
to understand whether the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System is
implementing its functions effectively. This evaluation is also
essential to determining whether the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning
System is meeting the needs of patients, clinicians, private industry,
and policymakers and how it can be improved to better meet those needs.
The evaluation will address the following research questions:
1. How successfully did the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System
identify and prioritize interventions for monitoring?
2. How successfully did the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System
monitor the selected target interventions?
3. How accurately did the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System
assess the potential impact of the interventions?
4. How can the processes for identification, prioritization,
monitoring, and assessment of potential impact of the interventions be
improved?
This research has the following goals:
1. To assess the performance of the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon
Scanning System in the identification and prioritization of
interventions which are important topics for further assessment.
2. To assess the performance of the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon
Scanning System in terms of the quality of information provided on the
topics selected, and the accuracy of the assessment of potential
impact.
3. To identify which, if any, of these areas of performance may
require improvement so as to strengthen the effectiveness of the AHRQ
Healthcare Horizon Scanning System.
This evaluation is being conducted by AHRQ through its contractor,
ECRI Institute, and ECRI's subcontractor, Mathematica Policy Research,
pursuant to AHRQ's statutory authority to conduct and support research
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 and with respect to
quality measurement and improvement. 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(1) and (2).
Method of Collection
To achieve the goals of this project the following data collections
will be implemented:
1. Expert Survey--The purpose of this survey, completed by domain
experts, is to measure the accuracy and completeness of the AHRQ
Healthcare Horizon Scanning System Potential High Impact reports and to
collect their assessment of the potential for high impact for the
included Potential High Impact interventions.
2. Expert Consultation--The purpose of this consultation with
experts is to confirm the cases of inaccurate or missing information
identified by a sole expert in the Expert Survey.
3. Stakeholder Survey--The purpose of this survey, completed by
stakeholders and likely users of the reports issued by the AHRQ
Healthcare Horizon Scanning System, is to rate the relevance, clarity,
and usefulness of the Potential High Impact reports.
4. Key Informant Interview--The purpose of these interviews of the
AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System staff is to learn about areas
and suggestions for improvement in the identification, monitoring, and
impact assessment processes.
The data collected by the Expert Survey will be used to measure the
accuracy and completeness of the Potential High Impact reports and the
accuracy of the potential for high impact assessments. If the expert
survey identifies cases of inaccurate or missing information that are
not reported by multiple experts, we will conduct an Expert
Consultation with another expert to confirm these cases. Accuracy of
the potential for high impact assessments will be measured by the level
of sensitivity (if experts agree that the Potential High Impact
interventions identified by the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System
are high impact interventions) and specificity (if experts agree that
the No Potential High Impact interventions identified by the AHRQ
Healthcare Horizon Scanning System should be excluded from the group of
Potential High Impact interventions).
The Stakeholder Survey will collect data to measure the usability
of the Potential High Impact reports and the specific report sections
that include the potential high impact assessment, summary, and
synthesis of expert comments. These data will be used to inform the
improvement of the format and content of the report. The survey will
also collect information on the sources and media these stakeholders
use to find CER information to help AHRQ better target distribution of
these reports to stakeholders.
A series of semi-structured Key Informant Interviews will be
conducted with staff and domain experts at ECRI Institute and other
organizations that participate in the AIIRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning
System in order to identify opportunities for improvements to the AHRQ
Healthcare Horizon Scanning System process. Qualitative interviews are
the main vehicle for gathering data to (1) learn which elements of the
AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System Protocol are working well and
the reasons why they are working well; and (2) understand which
elements of the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System Protocol can be
improved, how they might be improved, and the relative importance of
suggested improvements.
All of these information collection activities will allow for an
evaluation of the AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System, thereby
creating the opportunity to both maintain and improve this important
national resource. The findings will be presented in a report to ECRI
Institute and AHRQ.
Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
Mathematica expects a response rate of 80 percent from the sample
of 67 experts for the Expert Survey [minus'']54 completed surveys. The
Expert Survey is expected to require about 20 minutes, on average, to
complete. Mathematica expects that Expert Consultation with 15 experts
will be needed to confirm cases of inaccurate or missing information
identified in the Expert Survey. The follow-ups should be about 10
minutes.
For the Stakeholder Survey, Mathematica expects that 30 percent of
the sample of 700 stakeholders will be ineligible (i.e. will not find
any of the
[[Page 47144]]
presented reports relevant and therefore unable to rate a report) and
that 65 percent of the eligible sample will complete, resulting in 319
completes. It should take about 30 minutes to complete the Stakeholder
Survey. Mathematica will conduct senii-structured Key Informant
Interviews, on average lasting 50 minutes, with 23 respondents.
Exhibit 1--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of
Form name Number of responses per Hours per Total burden
respondents respondent response hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Expert Survey................................... 54 1 .33 18
Expert Consultation............................. 15 1 .17 3
Stakeholder Survey.............................. 319 1 .50 160
Key Informant Interviews........................ 23 1 .83 19
=================
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average
Form name Number of Total burden hourly wage Total cost
respondents hours rate * burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Expert Survey................................... 54 17.8 $92.25 $1,642
Expert Consultation............................. 15 2.5 ** 92.25 231
Stakeholder Survey.............................. 319 59.5 *** 48.72 7,771
Key Informant Interviews........................ 23 19.1 38.68 739
---------------------------------------------------------------
Total....................................... 411 .............. .............. 10,383
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* May 2013 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
** Based on average wage for physicians and surgeons.
*** Based on average wage for medical and health services managers.
**** Based on average wage for social scientists and related workers.
Request for Comments
In accordance with the above-cited Paperwork Reduction Act
legislation, 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: July 30 2014.
Richard Kronick,
AHRQ Director.
[FR Doc. 2014-18972 Filed 8-11-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-M
