Project ARCH Focus Group

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of
Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 2900-0770)

^{TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:}

^{Project ARCH Focus Group}

PURPOSE

Project Access Received Closer to Home (ARCH), aims to improve access for Veterans who travel long distances to receive VHA care by connecting them to health care services closer to where they live.

The purpose of the focus group is to collect feedback from Veterans who are receiving healthcare through Project ARCH. The responses will be compiled as part of an evaluation of the Project ARCH program services. The focus groups will be conducted semi-annually. The volunteer’s responses will be compiled as part of quarterly reports for VHA. The information collected from Veterans will be used by VHA to monitor the program and to determine program outcomes and successes.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS

Respondents will consist of Veterans currently enrolled in Project ARCH at five sites: Farmville, VA; Caribou, ME; Flagstaff, AZ, Billings, MT; and Wichita, KS.

TYPE OF COLLECTION (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

_{[x] Focus Group [ ] Other:}

CERTIFICATION

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Dr. Brad Smith, Altarum Institute

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [x] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of

1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [x] Yes

[ ] No

A Wal-Mart gift card of 25 dollars will be given as a token of appreciation to Veterans who participate in the focus group.

BURDEN HOURS

Table 1: Burden Hours

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Individuals, Veterans	125 X 2	1 hour	250 hours

FEDERAL COST

The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $8,800.00. Data below based on 2 focus groups at 5 sites during the year.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe?

[x] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

For each site, we will obtain a list of all Veterans at that site who have received healthcare through Project ARCH since the start of the program through the month prior to the focus group. Prior to identifying the sample for recruitment, we will remove Veterans who have received a recruitment letter for a previous focus group, regardless of whether or not they participated in past focus groups. Where a site has more than 25 eligible Veterans, we will stratify the population for that site by gender and age and use disproportional random sampling to select 25 Veterans for recruitment, oversampling for females and younger Veterans. For sites with fewer than 25 eligible Veterans receiving care, we will attempt to recruit the entire population.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone [x] In-person [ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [x] Yes [ ] No

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