Attachment F -- Federal Register Notice

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 16 / Tuesday, January 25, 2011 / Notices

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: January 3, 2011.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
Director.
[FR Doc. 2011–1173 Filed 1–24–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160–90–M

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
Budget (OMB) approve the proposed
information collection project: ‘‘The
Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality (AHRQ) Health Care
Innovations Exchange Innovator
Interview and Innovator Email
Submission Guidelines.’’ In accordance
with the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44
U.S.C. 3501–3520, AHRQ invites the
public to comment on this proposed
information collection.
This proposed information collection
was previously published in the Federal
Register on November 2nd, 2010 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 February 24, 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 email at [email protected]
(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

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SUMMARY:

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e-mail at
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposed Project
The Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality (AHRQ) Health Care
Innovations Exchange Innovator
Interview and Innovator Email
Submission Guidelines
This request for Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) review is for renewal
of the existing collection that is
currently approved under OMB Control
No. 0935–0147, AHRQ Health Care
Innovations Exchange Innovator
Interview and AHRQ Health Care
Innovations Exchange Innovator Email
Submission Guidelines, which expires
on March 31, 2011.
The Health Care Innovations
Exchange provides a national-level
information hub to foster the
implementation and adaptation of
innovative strategies that improve
health care quality and reduce
disparities in the care received by
different populations. The Innovations
Exchange’s target audiences, broadly
defined, are current and potential
change agents in the U.S. health care
system, including clinicians (e.g.,
physicians, nurses, and other
providers), health system
administrators, health plan managers,
health service purchasers, regulators,
and policymakers from relevant Federal
and state agencies.
To develop the target of 150 profiles
per year, a purposively selected group of
approximately 167 health care
innovations will be selected annually
for potential consideration. These 167
innovations will be selected to ensure
that innovations included in the
Innovations Exchange cover a broad
range of health care settings, care
processes, priority populations, and
clinical conditions.
The goals of the Health Care
Innovations Exchange are to:
(1) Identify health care service
delivery innovations and provide a
national level repository of searchable
innovations and QualityTools that
enables health care decisionmakers to
quickly identify ideas and tools that
meet their needs. These innovations
come from many care settings including
inpatient facilities, outpatient facilities,
long term care organizations, health
plans and community care settings.
They also represent many patient
populations, disease conditions, and
processes of care such as preventive,
acute, and chronic care;
(2) Foster the implementation and
adoption of health care service delivery

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innovations that improve health care
quality and reduce disparities in the
care received by different populations.
This data collection is being
conducted by AHRQ through its
contractor, Westat, pursuant to AHRQ’s
statutory authority to conduct and
support research on healthcare and on
systems for the delivery of such care,
including activities (1) with respect to
the quality, effectiveness, efficiency,
appropriateness and value of healthcare
services, 42 U.S.C. 299a(a), and (2) to
promote innovation in evidence-based
health care practices and technologies.
42 U.S.C. 299b–5.
Method of Collection
To achieve the first goal of the
Innovations Exchange the following
data collections will be implemented:
(1) E-mail submission—Based on
experience during the current approval
period, approximately 10% of the 167
health care innovations considered for
inclusion annually, and their associated
innovators, will submit their
innovations via email to the Innovations
Exchange without prior contact (about
17 annually). Innovators who submit
their innovations for possible
publication through the email
submission guidelines process will be
considered as will innovations
identified by project staff through an
array of sources that include: Published
literature, conference proceedings, news
items, list servs, Federal agencies and
other government programs and
resources, health care foundations, and
health care associations.
(2) Health care innovator interview—
To collect and verify the information
required for the innovation profiles,
health care innovators will be
interviewed by telephone about the
following aspects of their innovation:
Health care problem addressed, impetus
for the innovation, goals of the
innovation, description of the
innovation, sources of funding,
evaluation results for the innovation,
setting for the innovation, history of
planning and implementation for the
innovation, and lessons learned
concerning the implementation of the
innovation. Interviews will be
conducted with innovators identified by
project staff and those identified
through email submission.
(3) Annual follow-up reviews—After
the innovation profile is published, on
a yearly basis, innovators will be
contacted by email to review and update
their profiles.
The second goal of the Innovations
Exchange is achieved by serving as a
‘‘one-stop shop’’ that provides:

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 16 / Tuesday, January 25, 2011 / Notices
(1) Digested and reliable information
about innovations in an adoptionfriendly format;
(2) Learning resources including
expert commentaries, articles, adoption
guides and educational Web events, and
(3) Networking opportunities that
allow innovators and potential adopters
to share information about
implementation strategies and lessons
learned, including in-person meetings,
interactive online events, and the ability
for users to post comments and engage
in discussions on specific innovations.
The ultimate decision to publish a
detailed profile of an innovation
depends on several factors, including an
evaluation by AHRQ, AHRQ’s priorities,
and the number of similar ideas in the
Innovations Exchange. AHRQ’s
priorities include identifying and
highlighting innovations (1) That will
help reduce disparities in health care
and health status; (2) that will have
significant impact on the overall value

of health care; (3) where the innovators
have a strong interest in participating;
and (4) that have been supported by
AHRQ.
Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
Exhibit 1 shows the estimated
annualized burden hours for the
respondents’ time to participate in this
project. Approximately 167 innovators
will participate in the initial data
collection each year with 150 of those
being added to the Innovations
Exchange. About 17 innovations will be
submitted by e-mail, which requires 30
minutes. All 167 potential innovations
will participate in the health care
innovator interview, including the 17
submitted via e-mail. The interview will
last about 60 minutes and an additional
15 minutes is typically required for the
innovator to review and comment on
the written profile.
Based on experience, approximately
10% of the candidate innovations either

will not meet the inclusion criteria or
their innovators will decide not to
continue their participation, after the
interview. Therefore, about 90% (150) of
the 167 candidate innovations will
move into the publication stage each
year. Annual follow-up reviews will be
conducted with all innovations that
have been in the Innovations Exchange
for at least one full year. With an
expected total of 575 innovations in the
Exchange by the end of the current
approval period, and an additional 450
to be added over the course of the next
3 year approval period, an average of
725 reviews will be conducted annually
and will require about 30 minutes to
complete. The total annualized burden
is estimated to be 581 hours.
Exhibit 2 shows the estimated
annualized cost burden associated with
the respondents’ time to participate in
this research. The total annualized cost
burden is estimated to be $19,754.

EXHIBIT 1—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS
Name of
respondents

Form name

Number of
responses per
respondent

Hours per
response

Total burden
hours

E-mail submission ............................................................................................

17

1

30/60

9

Health care innovator interview .......................................................................
Annual follow-up reviews .................................................................................

167
725

1
1

75/60
30/60

209
363

Total ..........................................................................................................

909

........................

........................

581

EXHIBIT 2—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN
Number of
respondents

Form name

Total burden
hours

Average
hourly wage
rate*

Total cost
burden

E-mail submission ............................................................................................
Health care innovator interview .......................................................................
Annual follow-up reviews .................................................................................

17
167
725

9
209
363

$34
34
34

$306
7,106
12,342

Total ..........................................................................................................

909

581

........................

$19,754

* Based upon the mean hourly wage for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of
Labor, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2009.

Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal
Government
Exhibit 3 shows the estimated
annualized costs to the Government.

The total cost to the Government of this
data collection is approximately
$592,922 over three years (on average,
$197,642 per year). These costs cover
data collection efforts for contacting

candidate health care innovators,
conducting innovator interviews, and
contacting innovators annually to
update profiles.

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EXHIBIT 3—ESTIMATED TOTAL AND ANNUALIZED COST
Cost component

Total cost

Annualized
cost

Data Collection Activities .........................................................................................................................................
Website Maintenance ..............................................................................................................................................
Project Management ................................................................................................................................................
Overhead .................................................................................................................................................................

$82,260
64,172
27,096
419,395

$27,420
21,391
9,032
139,799

Total ..................................................................................................................................................................

$592,922

$197,642

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 16 / Tuesday, January 25, 2011 / Notices

Request for Comments
In accordance with the above-cited
Paperwork Reduction Act legislation,
comments on AHRQ1s 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: January 3, 2011.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
Director.
[FR Doc. 2011–1172 Filed 1–24–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160–90–M

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
Budget (OMB) approve the proposed
information collection project:
‘‘Synthesis Reports for Grants and
Cooperative Agreements for
Transforming Healthcare Quality
through Information Technology
(THQIT).’’ In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C.
3501–3520, AHRQ invites the public to
comment on this proposed information
collection.
This proposed information collection
was previously published in the Federal
Register on November 2, 2010 and

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES

SUMMARY:

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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 February 24, 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 email at [email protected]
(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
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposed Project
Synthesis Reports for Grants and
Cooperative Agreements for
Transforming Healthcare Quality
Through Information Technology
(THQIT)
AHRQ’s health information
technology initiative is part of the
Nation’s strategy to put information
technology to work in health care. By
developing secure and private electronic
health records and making health
information available electronically
when and where it is needed, health IT
can improve the quality of care, even as
it makes health care more cost-effective.
This proposed information collection
will help AHRQ enhance the evidence
base to support effective information
technology (IT) implementation and add
to knowledge about health IT by
synthesizing and drawing lessons from
its Transforming Healthcare Quality
through Information Technology
(THQIT) program.
From 2004–2010, the THQIT program
has supported the adoption of health IT
through 118 grants and cooperative
agreements. These grants fall into three
main categories: planning grants,
implementation grants and value
demonstration grants. Planning grants
are intended to develop health IT
infrastructure and data-sharing capacity
among clinical provider organizations in
their communities by (1) Creating
multidisciplinary collaboratives and
coalitions of health care providers, (2)
conducting needs assessments and
feasibility studies, and (3) developing
plans to implement electronic health
records. Implementation grants support
community-wide and regional health IT

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systems by (1) Developing shared
registries, electronic health record
systems, and telemedicine networks, (2)
integrating clinical data from a variety
of health IT systems, including
pharmacy, laboratory, and public health
organizations, (3) redesigning clinical
workflow to improve patient care and
provider access to information and (4)
creating novel methods for delivering
information to providers. Value
demonstration grants evaluate how the
adoption of health IT will (1) Impact
quality, safety, and resource use in
large, integrated delivery systems, (2)
advance the effectiveness of Web-based,
patient education tools and (3) improve
patient transitions between health care
facilities and their homes. The program
places an emphasis on grants to rural
health organizations.
AHRQ does not currently have a
system in place for assessing the overall
outcomes and lessons learned from
these health IT grants. This project seeks
to create such a system and has the
following goals:
(1) Further the state of knowledge of
health IT planning, implementation,
and effects by synthesizing the
experiences of THQIT grantees and the
reported effects of the grants;
(2) Translate this knowledge into a
practical tool to assist rural hospitals
with electronic health record
implementations; and
(3) Translate this knowledge into
recommendations for AHRQ activities.
This study is being conducted by
AHRQ through its contractor,
Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
(Mathematica), pursuant to AHRQ’s
statutory authority to conduct and
support research (1) on healthcare and
on systems for the delivery of such care,
42 U.S.C. 299a, and (2) on information
systems for health care improvement. 42
U.S.C. 299b–3.
Method of Collection
To achieve the goals of this project the
following data collections will be
implemented:
(1) Planning Grant Survey for all
grantees that received a planning grant;
(2) Implementation Grant Survey for
all grantees that received an
implementation grant;
(3) Value Grant Survey for all grantees
that received a value grant; and
(4) In-Depth Interviews will be
conducted via telephone with a sample
of grantees from each of the three types
of grants. Given the complex nature of
many of the projects conducted under
these grants, from each selected grantee
organization 1 to 3 persons with
different areas of expertise will
participate in the interview with the

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