Application to Use Burden/Hours from Generic PRA Clearance:
Generic Social Marketing & Consumer Testing Research
(CMS-10437, OMB 0938-1247)
Generic Information Collection (GenIC) #11: CMS Consumer Research on Websites and Tools
Office of Communications (OC)
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
The Office of Communication will be collaborating with research contractors to conduct preliminary consumer testing of websites and web-based tools. CMS uses websites and web-based tools as a primary channel to communicate with consumers about health, health care, and health insurance. The purpose of the research is to assess the consumer’s experience using CMS websites and web-based tools for their intended purpose, which could include enrolling in health insurance, comparing quality ratings of hospital, or educating the consumer on a health or health insurance topic. Findings from this study will be used to ensure that CMS websites and web-based tools are consumer-centric and designed in a way that appropriately and efficiently conveys the information that the consumer needs.
On October 13, 2010, former President Barack Obama signed into law the Plain Writing Act of 2010, requiring federal agencies to use “clear Government communication that the public can understand and use.” On January 18, 2011, former President Obama issued a new Executive Order, “E.O. 13563 – Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,” which states that regulations must be “accessible, consistent, written in plain language, and easy to understand.” Section 10104(g) states that the “use of language services and community outreach adds to the implementation of activities to reduce health and health care disparities.” To comply with this act, CMS is responsible for ensuring that all written outreach and education information that is developed by the agency is understandable and easy to use. In this round of research, research contractors will conduct usability testing with participants as they navigate the main components and review mock-ups of CMS websites and web-based tools.
No deviations are requested.
We will interview about 200 consumers for this study. The respondents will be recruited by a market research facility that has access to consumers nationwide. Participants will vary by age, race/ethnicity, gender, income, household composition and education levels and health insurance status. Consumers may include beneficiaries, providers, stakeholders, and any users of CMS websites or web-based tools.
The data will be collected via one-on-one, interviews conducted as participants are using the website or web-based tool, or viewing a mock-up. The interviews will take approximate 60-minutes. Respondents will be offered a cash incentive consistent with that for similar consumer marketing research activities in this area for completing the interview. This level of participant incentive is in keeping with that specified in the original Supporting Statement for this collection, i.e., in accordance to OMB Circular A-21, section C, and subsection 3 “Reasonable Costs”. A more detailed justification for providing incentives is appended to this application.
The total approved burden ceiling of the generic ICR is 21,488 hours. We are requesting a total deduction of 200 hours from the approved burden ceiling (200 participants x 60 minutes = 200 hours).
CMS hopes to deploy this collection as soon as OMB approval is obtained, and data collection will be ongoing until burden hours are reached.
The following attachment is provided for this information collection:
CMS Consumer Research on Websites and Tools Interview Guide
Justification for Providing Incentives for Participation in Marketing Research – Qualitative Studies
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | CMS |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-22 |