Attachment I - Response to Public Comments 041712

Attachment I: Responses to Public Comments on the “Workflow Assessment for Health IT Toolkit Evaluation”

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) published a 60-day notice in the Federal Register on March 9, 2012 regarding the project ‘‘Workflow Assessment for Health IT Toolkit Evaluation.’’

AHRQ received one comments from the following individual during this period:

• Anne E. Lara Ed.D., RN, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs & Quality System, WellDoc, Inc

AHRQ appreciates Dr. Lara’s interest in the project and her thoughtful comment. AHRQ also appreciates that while providing a comment Dr. Lara expresses support for the study by noting that data collection tools are very comprehensive.

AHRQ’s response to Dr. Lara’s suggestion is included below.

Using Electronic Tools for Data Collection

Physician practices

Comment(s): Dr. Lara suggests that “Data collection/analysis may be easier with the use of electronic tools with a common database.”

Response: Thank you for this suggestion. To clarify, a secure repository with restricted access to project staff will be used to gather and archive all data collected throughout the project and the project team has put into place quality assurance processes to review all entered data for accuracy and completeness and to ensure data integrity. In addition, some of the data collection forms will be completed by practice or Health IT Regional Extension Center (REC) staff (specifically, Attachment C: Workflow Toolkit Activities and Perspectives Observation Log, and Attachment D: Workflow Assessment Usage Log). In order to minimize the burden on participants, they will have the option to complete an electronic version of each form to give to project staff or to complete printed out versions. While AHRQ considered the development of a data collection tool that could upload data to a common database for the interview guides to be administered by project staff (specifically, Attachment A: Pre-Workflow Toolkit Interview Guide – Practice, Attachment B: Pre-Workflow Toolkit Interview Guide – REC, Attachment E: Post-Workflow Toolkit Interview Guide – Practice, and Attachment F: Post-Workflow Toolkit Interview Guide – REC), as noted under section I of Supporting Statement Part A, because most interview questions are open-ended to allow for in-depth exploration of issues, electronic submission of responses is not a viable option.