Attachment E -- Federal Register Notice

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 179 / Thursday, September 15, 2011 / Notices

promulgated by Office of the National
Coordinator for Health Information
Technology;
(2) Shall have complied with all the
requirements under this section;
(3) In the case of a private entity, shall
be incorporated in and maintain a
primary place of business in the United
States, and in the case of an individual,
whether participating singly or in a
group, shall be a citizen or permanent
resident of the United States; and
(4) May not be a Federal entity or
Federal employee acting within the
scope of their employment.
An individual or entity shall not be
deemed ineligible because the
individual or entity used Federal
facilities or consulted with Federal
employees during a competition if the
facilities and employees are made
available to all individuals and entities
participating in the competition on an
equitable basis.
Registered participants shall be
required to agree to assume any and all
risks and waive claims against the
Federal Government and its related
entities, except in the case of willful
misconduct, for any injury, death,
damage, or loss of property, revenue, or
profits, whether direct, indirect, or
consequential, arising from their
participation in a competition, whether
the injury, death, damage, or loss arises
through negligence or otherwise.
Participants shall be required to
obtain liability insurance or
demonstrate financial responsibility, in
amounts determined by the head of the
Office of the National Coordinator for
Health Information Technology, for
claims by—
(1) A third party for death, bodily
injury, or property damage, or loss
resulting from an activity carried out in
connection with participation in a
competition, with the Federal
Government named as an additional
insured under the registered
participant’s insurance policy and
registered participants agreeing to
indemnify the Federal Government
against third party claims for damages
arising from or related to competition
activities; and
(2) the Federal Government for
damage or loss to Government property
resulting from such an activity.
Participants must be teams of at least
two people.
All participants are required to
provide written consent to the rules
upon or before submitting an entry.
Dates:
• Submission Period Begins: 12:01
a.m., E.D.T., September 12, 2011.
• Submission Period Ends: 11:59
p.m., E.D.T., December 2, 2011.

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Registration Process for Participants:
To register for this challenge
participants should:
• Access the http://
www.challenge.gov Web site and search
for the ‘‘Reporting Device Adverse
Events Challenge’’.
• Access the ONC Investing in
Innovation (i2) Challenge Web site at:
Æ http://www.health2challenge.org/
category/onc/.
Æ A registration link for the challenge
can be found on the landing page under
the challenge description.
Amount of the Prize:
• First Prize: $25,000.
• Second Prize: $10,000.
• Third Prize: $5,000.
Awards may be subject to Federal
income taxes and HHS will comply with
IRS withholding and reporting
requirements, where applicable.
Basis Upon Which Winner Will Be
Selected:
The judging panel will make
selections based upon the following
criteria:
1. Effectiveness in facilitating adverse
event reporting.
2. Usability and design.
3. Ability to integrate with electronic
health records and other data sources.
4. Creativity and Innovation.
5. Use of NwHIN standards and
services.
Additional Information:
Ownership of intellectual property is
determined by the following:
• Each entrant retains title and full
ownership in and to their submission.
Entrants expressly reserve all
intellectual property rights not
expressly granted under the challenge
agreement.
• By participating in the challenge,
each entrant hereby irrevocably grants
to Sponsor and Administrator a limited,
non-exclusive, royalty free, worldwide,
license and right to reproduce,
publically perform, publically display,
and use the Submission to the extent
necessary to administer the challenge,
and to publically perform and
publically display the Submission,
including, without limitation, for
advertising and promotional purposes
relating to the challenge.
Dated: September 8, 2011.
Farzad Mostashari,
National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology.
[FR Doc. 2011–23702 Filed 9–14–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150–45–P

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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: ‘‘Health
Literacy Item Set Supplemental to
CAHPS Health Plan Survey—Pretest of
Proposed Questions and Methodology.’’
In accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501–3521,
AHRQ invites the public to comment on
this proposed information collection.
This proposed information collection
was previously published in the Federal
Register on July 7th, 2011 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 October 17, 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].
SUMMARY:

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposed Project
Health Literacy Item Set Supplemental
to CAHPS Health Plan Survey—Pretest
of Proposed Questions and Methodology
The Consumer Assessment of
Healthcare Providers and Systems
(CAHPS®) program is a multi-year
initiative. AHRQ first launched the
program in October 1995 in response to
concerns about the lack of good
information about the quality of health
plans from the enrollees’ perspective.
Numerous public and private
organizations collected information on

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 179 / Thursday, September 15, 2011 / Notices
enrollee and patient satisfaction, but the
surveys varied from sponsor to sponsor
and often changed from year to year.
The CAHPS® program was designed to:
• Make it possible to compare survey
results across sponsors and over time;
and
• Generate tools and resources that
sponsors can use to produce
understandable and usable comparative
information for consumers, health
providers and for quality improvement
purposes.
Over time, the program has expanded
beyond its original focus on health
plans to address a range of health care
services and to meet the various needs
of health care consumers, purchasers,
health plans, providers, and
policymakers. Based on a literature
review and an assessment of currently
available questionnaires, AHRQ
identified the need to develop a health
literacy module for the CAHPS® Health
Plan Survey. The intent of the health
literacy module is to examine health
plan enrollees’ perspectives on how
well health information is
communicated to them by health plans
and by healthcare professionals in the
health plan setting. The objective of the
new module is to provide information to
health plans, clinicians, group practices,
and other interested parties regarding
the quality of health information
delivered to patients. The health literacy
module will be pre-tested as a

supplement to the CAHPS® Health Plan
Survey.
This pre-test has the following goals:
(1) Analysis of item wording—Assess
candidate wordings for items.
(2) Analysis of participation rate—
Evaluate the overall response rate and
the proportion of that obtained from
mail versus telephone modes of data
collection.
(3) Case mix adjustment analysis—
Evaluate variables that need to be
considered for case mix adjustment of
scores.
(4) Psychometric Analysis—Provide
information for the revision of the
health literacy item set based on the
assessment of the reliability and
validity.
(5) Dissemination of the CAHPS
Health Plan Health Literacy
supplemental item set.
This study is being conducted by
AHRQ through its contractor, the RAND
Corporation, pursuant to AHRQ’s
statutory authority to conduct research
and evaluations on health care and
systems for the delivery of such care,
including activities with respect to the
quality, effectiveness, efficiency,
appropriateness and value of health care
services. See 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(1).
Method of Collection
To achieve the goals of this pre-test
the CAHPS Health Plan Health Literacy
Survey will be implemented with a
sample of persons from the surveys’

target population, consumers of health
care services offered by health plans.
The data from this pre-test will be used
to refine the health literacy module
questions and will ensure that the future
data collection yield high quality data
and ensure a minimization of
respondent burden, increase agency
efficiency, and improve responsiveness
to the public. The survey items will be
added to currently available CAHPS
surveys and will enhance the ability of
health plans and health professionals
working in a health plan primary care
setting to assess the quality of their
services.
Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
Exhibit 1 shows the estimated
annualized burden for the respondents’
time to participate in this data
collection. About 1000 persons will
complete the CAHPS Health Plan
Survey Health Literacy Module. The
estimated response time of 25 minutes
is based on the written length of the
survey and AHRQ’s experience with
previous CAHPS® surveys of
comparable length that were fielded
with similar samples. The total burden
hours are estimated to be 417 hours.
Exhibit 2 shows the respondents’ cost
burden associated with their time to
participate in this data collection. The
total cost burden is estimated to be
$8,715.

EXHIBIT 1—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS
Number of
respondents

Form name

Number of
responses per
respondent

Hours per
response

Total burden
hours

CAHPS Health Plan Health Literacy Module ..................................................

1000

1

25/60

417

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

1000

1

na

417

EXHIBIT 2—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN
Number of
respondents

Form name

Total burden
hours

Average hourly wage rate*

Total cost
burden

CAHPS Health Plan Health Literacy Survey ...................................................

1000

417

$20.90

$8,715

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

1000

417

na

8,715

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*Based upon the average wages, ‘‘National Compensation Survey: Occupational Wages in the United States, May 2009,’’ U.S. Department of
Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal
Government
Exhibit 3 shows the total and
annualized cost to conduct this

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research. The total cost for this project
is approximately $299,000. Since the
data collection period is less than one

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year, the total and annualized costs are
identical.

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 179 / Thursday, September 15, 2011 / Notices
EXHIBIT 3—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST
Cost component

Total cost

Review of literature ..................................................................................................................................................
Cognitive interviews .................................................................................................................................................
Field test ..................................................................................................................................................................
Data analyses ..........................................................................................................................................................
Finalize survey .........................................................................................................................................................
AHRQ project management ....................................................................................................................................

$20,000
60,000
90,000
40,000
39,000
50,000

$20,000
60,000
90,000
40,000
39,000
50,000

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

299,000

299,000

Request for Comments
In accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act, 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 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: Aug 31 2011.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
Director.
[FR Doc. 2011–23543 Filed 9–14–11; 8:45 am]

Budget (OMB) approve the proposed
information collection project: ‘‘Medical
Expenditure Panel Survey—Insurance
Component 2012–2013.’’ In accordance
with the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44
U.S.C. 3501–3521, AHRQ invites the
public to comment on this proposed
information collection.
This proposed information collection
was previously published in the Federal
Register on June 30th, 2011 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 October 17, 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:

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M

Proposed Project
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey—
Insurance Component 2012–2013

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request
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Annualized
cost

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:

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Employer-sponsored health insurance
is the source of coverage for 85 million
current and former workers, plus many
of their family members, and is a
cornerstone of the U.S. health care
system. The Medical Expenditure Panel
Survey—Insurance Component (MEPS–
IC) measures the extent, cost, and
coverage of employer-sponsored health
insurance on an annual basis. These
statistics are produced at the National,
State, and sub-State (metropolitan area)
level for private industry. Statistics are
also produced for State and Local
governments.

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This research has the following goals:
(1) To provide data for Federal
policymakers evaluating the effects of
National and State health care reforms;
(2) to provide descriptive data on the
current employer-sponsored health
insurance system and data for modeling
the differential impacts of proposed
health policy initiatives; and
(3) to supply critical State and
National estimates of health insurance
spending for the National Health
Accounts and Gross Domestic Product.
This study is being conducted by
AHRQ through an interagency
agreement with the U.S. Census Bureau
and pursuant to AHRQ’s statutory
authority to conduct surveys to collect
data on the cost, use and quality of
health care, including the types and
costs of private health insurance. 42
U.S.C. 299b–2(a).
Method of Collection
To achieve the goals of this project the
following data collections for both
private sector and state and local
government employers will be
implemented:
(1) Prescreener Questionnaire—The
purpose of the Prescreener
Questionnaire, which is collected via
telephone, varies depending on the
insurance status of the establishment
contacted. (Establishment is defined as
a single, physical location in the private
sector and a governmental unit in state
and local governments.) For
establishments that do not offer health
insurance to their employees, the
prescreener is used to collect basic
information such as number of
employees. Collection is completed for
these establishments through this
telephone call. For establishments that
do offer health insurance, contact name
and address information is collected
that is used for the mailout of the
establishment and plan questionnaires.
Obtaining this contact information helps
ensure that the questionnaires are
directed to the person in the
establishment best equipped to
complete them.

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