Attachment C -- Federal Register Notice

Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 21 / Wednesday, February 1, 2012 / Notices
3090–0221, Civilian Board of Contract
Appeals Rules of Procedure’’, under the
heading ‘‘Enter Keyword or ID’’ and
selecting ‘‘Search’’. Select the link
‘‘Submit a Comment’’ that corresponds
with ‘‘Information Collection IC 3090–
0221, Civilian Board of Contract
Appeals Rules of Procedure’’. Follow
the instructions provided at the ‘‘Submit
a Comment’’ screen. Please include your
name, company name (if any), and
‘‘Information Collection 3090–0221,
Civilian Board of Contract Appeals
Rules of Procedure’’ on your attached
document.
• Fax: (202) 501–4067.
• Mail: General Services
Administration, Regulatory Secretariat
(MVCB), 1275 First Street, NE.,
Washington, DC 20417. ATTN: Hada
Flowers/IC 3090–0221, Civilian Board
of Contract Appeals Rules of Procedure.
Instructions: Please submit comments
only and cite Information Collection
3090–0221, Civilian Board of Contract
Appeals Rules of Procedure, in all
correspondence related to this
collection. All comments received will
be posted without change to http://
www.regulations.gov, including any
personal and/or business confidential
information provided.
J.
Gregory Parks, Chief Counsel, Civilian
Board of Contract Appeals, 1800 F
Street, NW., Washington, DC 20405,
telephone (202) 606–8800 or via email
to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Purpose
The CBCA requires the information
collected in order to conduct
proceedings in contract appeals and
petitions, and cost applications. Parties
include those persons or entities filing
appeals, petitions, cost applications,
and government agencies.

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B. Annual Reporting Burden
Respondents: 85.
Responses per Respondent: 1.
Hours per Response: .108.
Total Burden Hours: 9.2.
Obtaining Copies of Proposals:
Requesters may obtain a copy of the
information collection documents from
the General Services Administration,
Regulatory Secretariat (MVCB), 1275
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20417,
telephone (202) 501–4755. Please cite
OMB Control No. 3090–0221, Civilian
Board of Contract Appeals Rules of
Procedure, in all correspondence.

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Dated: January 24, 2012.
Casey Coleman,
Chief Information Officer.

Proposed Project

[FR Doc. 2012–2097 Filed 1–31–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820–AL–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.

AGENCY:
ACTION:

Notice.

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:
‘‘Consumer Assessment of Healthcare
Providers and Systems (CAHPS)
Clinician and Group Survey
Comparative Database.’’ 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 November 28th, 2011 and
allowed 60 days for public comment. No
substantive comments were received.
The purpose of this notice is to allow an
additional 30 days for public comment.

SUMMARY:

Comments on this notice must be
received by March 2, 2012.

DATES:

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.

ADDRESSES:

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ Reports
Clearance Officer, (301) 427–1477, or by
email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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5021

Consumer Assessment of Healthcare
Providers and Systems (CAHPS)
Clinician and Group Survey
Comparative Database
The Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality (AHRQ) requests that the
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) approve, under the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, AHRQ’s
collection of information for the AHRQ
Consumer Assessment of Healthcare
Providers and Systems (CAHPS)
Database for Clinicians and Groups. The
CAHPS Clinician and Group Database
(CAHPS CG Database) consists of data
from the AHRQ CAHPS Clinician and
Group Survey (CAHPS CG Survey).
Health systems administrators, medical
groups and medical practitioners in the
U.S. are asked to voluntarily submit
data from the CAHPS CG Survey to
AHRQ through its contractor.
Dating back to the first phase of the
CAHPS program (1996–2000), the
CAHPS Consortium recognized the need
for a standardized, evidence-based
instrument that would gather data on
patients’ experiences with physicians
and staff in outpatient medical
practices, enabling clinicians and
administrators to assess and improve
patients’ experiences with medical care.
In 1999, the Consortium began work on
a survey that would assess patients’
experiences with medical groups and
clinicians. Working in collaboration
with the Pacific Business Group on
Health, whose Consumer Assessment
Survey established a precedent for this
type of instrument; the CAHPS
Consortium developed a preliminary
instrument known as the CAHPS Group
Practices Survey (G–CAHPS).
In August 2004, AHRQ issued a notice
in the Federal Register inviting
organizations to test this instrument.
These field test organizations were
crucial partners in the evolution and
development of the instrument, and
provided critical data illuminating key
aspects of survey design and
administration. In July 2007 the CAHPS
CG Survey was endorsed by the
National Quality Forum (NQF), an
organization established to standardize
health care quality measurement and
reporting. The endorsement represents
the consensus of many health care
providers, consumer groups,
professional associations, purchasers,
federal agencies, and research and
quality organizations. The CAHPS CG
Survey and related toolkit materials are
available on the CAHPS web site at
http://www.cahps.AHRO.gov/cahpskit/
CG/CGChooseQX.asp. Since its release,
the survey has been used by thousands

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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 21 / Wednesday, February 1, 2012 / Notices

of physicians and medical practices
across the U.S.
The current CAHPS Consortium
includes AHRQ, the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS),
RAND, Yale School of Public Health,
and Westat.
AHRQ has developed the database for
CAHPS CG Survey data following the
CAHPS Health Plan Database as a
model. The CAHPS Health Plan
Database was developed in 1998 in
response to requests from health plans,
purchasers, and CMS for comparative
data to support public reporting of
health plan ratings, health plan
accreditation and quality improvement
(OMB Control Number 0935–0165,
Expiration Date 7/31/2013). Demand for
comparative results from the CG Survey
has grown as well, and therefore AHRQ
has developed a dedicated CG Database
to support benchmarking, quality
improvement, and research.
The CAHPS CG Database contains
data from AHRQ’s standardized CAHPS
CG Survey, which provides comparative
measures of quality to health care
purchasers, consumers, regulators, and
policy makers. The Database also
provides data for AHRQ’s annual
National Healthcare Quality and
National Healthcare Disparities Reports.
Health systems, medical groups and
practices that administer the CAHPS CG
Survey according to CAHPS
specifications can participate in this
project. A health system is a complex of
facilities, organizations, and providers
of health care in a specified geographic
area. A medical group is defined as a
medical group, Accountable Care
Organization (ACO), state organization
or some other grouping of practices. A
practice is an outpatient facility in a
specific location whose physicians and
other providers share administrative
and clinical support staff. Each practice
located in a building containing
multiple medical offices is considered a
separate practice.
The goal of this project is to continue
to update the CAHPS CG Database, with
the latest results of the CAHPS CG
Survey. These results consist of 37 items
that measure 5 areas or composites of
patients’ experiences with physicians
and staff in outpatient medical
practices. This database will (1) allow
participating organizations to compare
their survey results with those of other
outpatient medical groups; (2) facilitate
internal assessment and learning in the
quality improvement process; and
(3) provide information to help identify
strengths and areas with potential for
improvement in patient care. The five
composite measures are:

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Getting Timely Appointments, Care, and
Information
How Well Doctors Communicate With
Patients
Helpful, Courteous, and Respectful Office
Staff Follow-up on Test Results
Patients’ Rating of the Doctor

This study 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 with respect to: The quality,
effectiveness, efficiency,
appropriateness and value of healthcare
services; quality measurement and
improvement; and health surveys and
database development. 42 U.S.C.
299a(a)(1), (2), and (8).
Method of Collection
To achieve the goal of this project, the
following activities and data collections
will be implemented:
(1) Registration Form—The purpose of
this form is to determine the eligibility
status and initiate the registration
process for participating organizations
seeking to voluntarily submit their
CAHPS CG Survey data to the CAHPS
CG Comparative Database. The point of
contact (POC) at the participating
organization (or parent organization)
will complete the form. The POC is
either a corporate-level health care
manager or a survey vendor who
contracts with a participating
organization to collect the CAHPS CG
Survey data.
(2) Data Use Agreement—The purpose
of this form is to obtain authorization
from participating organizations to use
their voluntarily submitted CAHPS CG
Survey data for analysis and reporting
according to the terms specified in the
Data Use Agreement (DUA). The POC
will complete the form.
(3) Data Submission—After the POC
has completed the Registration Form
and the Data Use Agreement, they will
submit their patient-level data from the
CAHPS CG Survey to the CAHPS CG
Comparative Database. Data on the
organizational characteristics such as
ownership, number of patient visits per
year and medical specialty, and
information related to survey
administration such as mode and dates
of survey administration, sample size,
and response rate, which are collected
as part of CAHPS CG Survey operations,
are also submitted. Each submission
will consist of 3 data files: (1) A Group
File that contains 5 information about
the group ownership and size of group,
(2) a Practice File containing type of
practice, the practice ownership and

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affiliation (i.e., commercial, hospital or
integrated delivery system, insurance
company, university or medical school,
community health center, VA or
military) and number of patient visits
per year, and, (3) a Sample File that
contains one record for each patient
surveyed, the date of visit, survey
disposition code and information about
survey completion.
Survey data from the CAHPS CG
Database is used to produce three types
of products: (1) An online reporting of
results available to the public on the
CAHPS User Network web site; (2)
comparative reports that are
confidential and customized for each
participating organization (e.g., health
system, medical group or practice) that
submits data; and, (3) a database
available to researchers for additional
analyses.
Information for the CAHPS CG
Database is collected by AHRQ through
its contractor Westat. Participating
organizations are asked to voluntarily
submit their data to the CAHPS
Database. The data is cleaned with
standardized programs, then aggregated
and used to produce comparative
results. In addition, reports are
produced that compare the participating
organizations’ results to the database in
a password-protected section of the
CAHPS Database online reporting
system. Trend data will be available to
participants when enough data is
collected across consecutive years.
Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
Exhibit 1 shows the estimated
annualized burden hours for
participating organizations. The burden
hours and costs below are based on an
estimated number of participants. It is
estimated that about 30 health systems,
medical groups and practices will
participate in the CAHPS CG Database.
The number of data submissions per
participating organization will vary
because some participants may submit
data for multiple practices, while others
may only submit data for one.
The total burden for completing the
registration, DUA and data submission
process is estimated to be 246 hours.
The 30 participating organizations that
complete the registration form and
submit information to the CAHPS CG
Database are a combination of an
estimated 20 health systems, medical
groups and practices and 10 estimated
vendors. Information about survey
administration and the survey data files
are submitted together for each
participating organization.

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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 21 / Wednesday, February 1, 2012 / Notices
EXHIBIT 1—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS
Number of
respondents
POCs

Form name

Number of
responses
per POC

Hours per
response

Total burden
hours

Registration Form ....................................................................
Data Submission .....................................................................
Data Use Agreement ...............................................................

30
30
30

1
1
1

6/60 ........................................
7 and 6/60 ..............................
1 .............................................

3
213
30

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

30

NA

8 and 12/60 ............................

246

Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annualized cost burden based on the respondents’ time to complete the submission process. The cost burden is
estimated to be $10,485 annually.

EXHIBIT 2—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN
Number of respondents

Form name

Total burden
hours

Average hourly
wage rate*

Total cost burden

Registration Form ............................................................................................
Data Submission ..............................................................................................
Data Use Agreement .......................................................................................

30
30
30

3
213
30

42.62
42.62
42.62

128
9,078
1,279

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

30

246

NA

10,485

* Mean hourly wage rate of $42.62 for Medical and Health Services Managers (SOC code 19111) was obtained from the May 2009 National
Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, NAICS 621100—Offices of Physicians located at http://www.bls.gov/oe5/2009/
may/naic54_621100.htm.

Estimated Annual Cost to the
Government
Exhibit 3 shows the estimated
annualized cost to the government for
developing, maintaining and managing

the CAHPS CG Database, analyzing the
data and reporting results. The cost is
estimated to be $220,000 annually.
Annualized costs for collecting and
processing the CAHPS CG Database are

based upon 10 years of historical
CAHPS Health Plan Database project
costs. AHRQ wishes to continue this
data collection indefinitely and requests
OMB approval for 3 years.

EXHIBIT 3—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST
Cost component

Annualized
cost

Database Maintenance ............................................................................................................................................
Data Submission ......................................................................................................................................................
Data Analysis and Reporting ...................................................................................................................................

$120,000
240,000
300,000

$40,000
80,000
100,000

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

660,000

220,000

Request for Comments

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Total cost

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.

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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 20, 2012.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
Director.

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:

[FR Doc. 2012–2129 Filed 1–31–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE M

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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: ‘‘Medical
Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture
Comparative Database.’’ In accordance
with the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44
U.S.C. 3501–3521, AHRQ invites the

SUMMARY:

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