Generic Request: VHA Online Customer Value Survey

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

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Online Survey for VHA Customer Value Mapping

PURPOSE:

To improve the overall health of Veterans and continue to be their provider of choice, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is undertaking a comprehensive set of transformation initiatives to develop a more patient-centered model of care that will meet the changing needs and expectations of the Veteran population. Included in these initiatives are two strategies: 1) the bi-directional sharing of healthcare information between VA care teams and Veterans and their family members, and 2) a more proactive and personalized approach to healthcare through health coaching.

As part of the effort to develop these care practices, VHA seeks to develop a thorough understanding of the specific service characteristics and choice factors valued most highly by Veterans, and how these preferences will impact Veterans choices and behaviors when interacting with VHA. Such an approach will provide insight into how Veterans will respond to future changes in patient care practices or service experiences. Understanding these preferences will help VHA design and implement the sharing of healthcare information and the introduction of new services/experiences such as personalized health planning and coaching in ways that provide the highest value to Veterans and achieve the highest possible levels of patient adoption, adherence and satisfaction.

OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH:

The objective of the online customer survey is to gather input from Veterans on two healthcare services – the bi-directional sharing of healthcare information and health coaching. The online survey will have been tested in a focus group setting with both enrolled and non-enrolled Veterans. The online survey will identify those service attributes or characteristics which are most important to Veterans. The questions in the online survey will identify the preferences of Veterans in relation to VHA service options or potential service options (for example, different lead times for appointment scheduling or different types of information included in patient health records). The online survey will also surface factors that, while important to Veterans, are not really choice factors but rather are “taken for granted” in the design of healthcare services (for example, the security of information in the personal health record).

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

The conjoint survey will be administered online by GfK using KnowledgePanel®. For the VHA conjoint surveys, enrolled and non-enrolled Veterans will be screened to fill quotas established in the sampling plan described below. KnowledgePanel® provides statistically valid representation of the U.S. population as well as many difficult-to-survey populations:

• cell phone-only households,

• African Americans,

• Latinos, and

• young adults.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

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

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

[ ] Focus Group [ ]

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: Joseph A. Williams

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

Respondents receive the standard incentive for being a panel participant. The standard incentive has two classes: those who provide their own computer and ISP and those who use a computer and ISP provided as a part of their recruitment into KnowledgePanel®. Those who use their own computer and ISP receive 1,000 loyalty points for completing this survey. 1,000 loyalty points is equivalent to $1.00 and is deposited into their account for future use. When a computer and ISP is provided to a respondent, access to the internet when not taking a KnowledgePanel survey represents their standard incentive. The description of the standard incentive is included in all recruitment materials provided to respondents prior to their joining the panel. Providing a minimal incentive for completing a survey is standard practice for panel participants.

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Individuals (Veterans Enrolled in the VHA system)	400	25
Individuals (Veterans Not Enrolled in the VHA system)	400	25
Totals	800	25	333

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is: $65,131.

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?

The conjoint surveys will be administered to a random sample of Veterans. The sampling goals are:

• Veterans from the Vietnam era onward

• 400 Veterans not enrolled in the VA Healthcare system

• 400 Veterans enrolled in the VA Healthcare system (about 1/3 of all Veterans)

The KnowledgePanel® (KP) will have enough qualified Veterans to meet these sampling goals. The research team calculates that roughly 60% of the country’s 22 million Veterans are from the Vietnam era or later. The KP has about 4,000 Veterans overall and roughly 2,400 potential respondents from the Vietnam era forward. For non-enrollees (2/3) that means a potential of 1600 respondents; for enrollees (1/3) 800 potential respondents. Knowledge Networks predicts a 65% completion rate so there should be sufficient potential respondents to meet the sampling goals. Because the above are estimates and because the panelists have not been asked the screening question about “Vietnam War era and forward”, GfK optionally can supplement the panel with cases from an external data source if necessary. This is not expected to be necessary.

Of this random sampling of 800 Veterans, the results can be broken out by variables such as:

• Age

• Race

• Gender

• Ethnic origin

• Conflict served

• Rural/urban residents

Administration of the Instrument

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

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

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

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