Attachment A -- Federal Register Notice

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 222 / Monday, November 18, 2013 / Notices

comment that the agencies should have
in place an internal planning process so
that completion of the public
notification and comment period
required by 5 CFR 1320 occurs prior to
an information collection’s expiration
date. Regular order allows the agencies
and the public to have a meaningful and
on-the-record dialogue on information
collection extensions.
Response: Although ideally it is
preferable to complete the renewal
process prior to expiration, an
emergency extension may be necessary
in order to allow the public the
opportunity for input into the process.
5. The collective burden of
compliance.
Comment: The respondent objects to
the overall collective burden imposed
by the Government on all respondents.
Response: The Councils cannot
effectively address the broad allegations
with regard to the accuracy and utility
of the entire collective burden imposed
on all Federal acquisitions. The
Councils can only effectively address
each individual information collection
requirement that is under consideration
for OMB approval. The Councils
constantly review information
collection requirements imposed by
FAR regulations for ways to reduce the
burdens and still achieve the objectives
of the regulations, whether based on
policy or statute.

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C. Annual Reporting Burden
A preaward survey would be needed
only if the firm had not previously been
a Government contractor and therefore
had no record of past performance. The
data from FPDS for FY 2012 showed a
total of 11,805 contracts awarded
Governmentwide that were over the
$150,000 simplified acquisition
threshold, and for which commercial
acquisition procedures were not used.
Initially, we estimated that preaward
surveys were completed for 30 percent
of the total or 3,540. After
reconsideration, it became obvious that
a preaward survey would only be
needed if the firm had not previously
been a Government contractor. The
revised estimate is that only 15 percent
of awards will potentially require a
preaward survey. The estimate is
reduced from 3,540 contracts to 1,771
contracts. Of the six Standard Forms
(1403, 1404, 1405, 1406, 1407, and
1408), we estimated that Standard Form
1403 is used most frequently because it
is a general form and accounts for 30
percent or 531 times, Standard Forms
1404 and 1407 account for 15 percent or
266 times, Standard Form 1408
accounts for 20 percent or 354 times,

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and Standard Forms 1405 and 1406
account 10 percent or 177 times.
Standard Form 1403—Preaward Survey
of Prospective Contractor (General)
Respondents: 531.
Responses Annually: 1.
Total Responses: 531.
Hours per Response: 24.
Total Burden Hours: 12,744.
Standard Form 1404—Preaward Survey
of Prospective Contractor Technical
Respondents: 266.
Responses Annually: 1.
Total Responses: 266.
Hours per Response: 24.
Total Burden Hours: 6,384.
Standard Form 1405—Preaward Survey
of Prospective Contractor Production
Respondents: 177.
Responses Annually: 1.
Total Responses: 177.
Hours per Response: 24.
Total Burden Hours: 4,248.

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Respondents: 177.
Responses Annually: 1.
Total Responses: 177.
Hours per Response: 24.
Total Burden Hours: 4,248.

Respondents: 266.
Responses Annually: 1.
Total Responses: 266.
Hours per Response: 24.
Total Burden Hours: 6,384.

Respondents: 354.
Responses Annually: 1.
Total Responses: 354.
Hours per Response: 24.
Total Burden Hours: 8,496.
D. Public Comments
Public comments are particularly
invited on: Whether this collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of functions of the Federal
Acquisition Regulations (FAR), and
whether it will have practical utility;
whether our estimate of the public
burden of this collection of information
is accurate, and based on valid
assumptions and methodology; ways to
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity
of the information to be collected; and
ways in which we can minimize the
burden of the collection of information

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Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality

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:
‘‘Collection of Information for Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality’s
(AHRQ) Consumer Assessment of
Healthcare Providers and Systems
(CAHPS) Health Plan 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 August 14th, 2013 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.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be
received by December 18, 2013.
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
SUMMARY:

Standard Form 1408—Preaward Survey
of Prospective Contractor Accounting
System

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES

Agency Information Collection
Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request

Standard Form 1407—Preaward Survey
of Prospective Contractor Financial
Capability

Frm 00049

Karlos Morgan,
Acting Director, Federal Acquisition Policy
Division, Office of Government-wide
Acquisition Policy, Office of Acquisition
Policy, Office of Government-wide Policy.
[FR Doc. 2013–27450 Filed 11–15–13; 8:45 am]

Standard Form 1406—Preaward Survey
of Prospective Contractor Quality
Assurance

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on those who are to respond, through
the use of appropriate technological
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
Obtaining Copies of Proposals:
Requesters may obtain a copy of the
information collection documents from
the General Services Administration,
Regulatory Secretariat (MVCB), 1800 F
Street NW., Washington, DC 20405,
telephone 202–501–4755.
Please cite OMB Control Number
9000–0011, Preaward Survey Forms
(Standard Forms 1403, 1404, 1405,
1406, 1407, and 1408), in all
correspondence.

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 222 / Monday, November 18, 2013 / Notices
email at OIRA_submission@
omb.eop.gov (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
email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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Proposed Project
Collection of Information for Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality’s
(AHRQ) Consumer Assessment of
Healthcare Providers and Systems
(CAHPS) Health Plan Survey
Comparative Database
Request for information collection
approval. The Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ) requests
that the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) reapprove, under the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,
AHRQ’s collection of information for
the AHRQ Consumer Assessment of
Healthcare Providers and Systems
(CARPS) Database for Health Plans:
OMB Control number 0935–0165,
expiration July 31, 2013. The CAHPS
Health Plan Database consists of data
from the AHRQ CAHPS Health Plan
Survey. Health plans in the U.S. are
asked to voluntarily submit data from
the survey to AHRQ, through its
contractor, Westat. The CAHPS
Database was developed by AHRQ in
1998 in response to requests from health
plans, purchasers, and the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to
provide comparative data to support
public reporting of health plan ratings,
health plan accreditation and quality
improvement.
Background on the CAHPS Health
Plan Survey. The CAHPS Health Plan
Survey is a tool for collecting
standardized information on enrollees’
experiences with health plans and their
services. The development of the
CAHPS Health Plan Survey began in
1995, when AHRQ awarded the first set
of CAHPS grants to Harvard, RTI, and
RAND. In 1997 the CAHPS 1.0 survey
was released by the CAHPS Consortium.
The CAHPS Consortium refers to the
research organizations involved in the
development, dissemination, and
support of CAHPS products. The
current Consortium includes AHRQ,
CMS, RAND, Yale School of Public
Health, and Westat.
Since that time, the Consortium has
clarified and updated the survey
instrument to reflect field test results;

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feedback from industry experts; reports
from health plan participants, data
collection vendors, and other users; and
evidence from cognitive testing and
focus groups. In November 2006, the
CAHPS Consortium released the latest
version of the instrument: The CAHPS
Health Plan Survey 4.0. The
development of this update to the
Health Plan Survey has been part of the
‘‘Ambulatory CAHPS (A–CAHPS)
Initiative,’’ which arose as a result of
extensive research conducted with
users. AHRQ released the CAHPS
Health Plan Survey 4.0, along with
guidance on how to customize and
administer it. The National Quality
Forum endorsed the 4.0 version of the
Health Plan Survey in July 2007.
Rationale for the information
collection. The CAHPS Health Plan
Database uses data from AHRQ’s
standardized CAHPS Health plan survey
to provide comparative results to health
care purchasers, consumers, regulators
and policy makers across the country.
The Database also provides data for
AHRQ’s annual National Healthcare
Quality and National Healthcare
Disparities Reports. Voluntary
participants include public and private
employers, State Medicaid agencies,
State Children’s Health Insurance
Programs (SCHIP), the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS),
and individual health plans.
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 database
development. 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(1), (2),
and (a)(8).
Method of Collection
Each year State Medicaid agencies,
and individual health plans decide
whether to participate in the database
and prepare their materials and dataset
for submission to the CARPS Health
Plan Database. Participating
organizations are typically State
Medicaid agencies with multiple health
plans. However, individual health plans
are also encouraged to submit their data
to the CARPS Database. The number of
data submissions per registrant varies
from participant to participant and year
to year because some participants
submit data for multiple health plans,
while others may only submit survey
data for one plan.

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Each organization that decides to
participate in the database must have
their point-of-contact (POC) complete a
registration form providing their contact
information for access to the on-line
data submission system, sign and
submit a DUA, and provide health plan
characteristics such as health plan
name, product type, type of population
surveyed, health plan state, and plan
name to appear in the reporting of their
results.
Each vendor that submits files on
behalf of a Medicaid agency or
individual health plan must also
complete the registration form in order
to obtain access to the on-line
submission system. The vendor, on
behalf of their client, may also complete
additional information about survey
administration (CAHPS survey version
used, mode of survey administration,
total enrollment count, description of
how the sample was selected), submit a
copy of the questionnaire used, and
submit one data file per health plan.
Commercial health plan data is received
directly from NCQA. Medicare health
plan data is received from CMS.
Survey data from the CAHPS Health
Plan Database is used to produce four
types of products: (1) An annual
chartbook available to the public on the
CAHPS Database Web site (https://
www.cahpsdatabase.ahrq.gov/
CAHPSIDB/Public/Chartbook.aspx); (2)
individual participant comparative
reports that are confidential and
customized for each participating
organization (e.g., health plan, Medicaid
agency) that submits their data; (3) a
research database available to
researchers wanting to conduct
additional analyses; and (4) data tables
provided to AHRQ for inclusion in the
National Healthcare Quality and
National Healthcare Disparities Reports.
Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
Exhibit 1 shows the estimated burden
hours for the respondent to participate
in the database. The burden hours
pertain only to the collection of
Medicaid data from State Medicaid
agencies and individual Medicaid
health plans because those are the only
entities that submit data through the
data submission process (other data are
obtained directly from NCQA and CMS
as noted earlier in Section 2). The 80
POCs in exhibit 1 are a combination of
an estimated 60 State Medicaid agencies
and individual health plans, and 20
estimated vendors.
Each State Medicaid agency, health
plan or vendor will register online for
submission. The online Registration
form will require about 5 minutes to
complete. Each submitter will also

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 222 / Monday, November 18, 2013 / Notices

complete a Health Plan information
form of information about each Health
Plan such as the name of the plan, the
product type (e.g., HMO, PPO), the
population surveyed (e.g., adult
Medicaid or child Medicaid), the health
plan State, total enrollment at the time
the sample frame was generated, mode
of survey administration (mail,
telephone, IVR) and how the sample
was selected. The online Health Plan
Information form takes on average 30
minutes to complete per health plan
with each POC completing the form for
4 plans on average. The data use
agreement will be completed by the 60

participating State Medicaid agencies or
individual health plans. Vendors do not
sign or submit DUAs. The DUA requires
about 3 minutes to sign and return by
fax or mail. Each submitter will provide
a copy of their questionnaire and the
survey data file in the required file
format. Survey data files must conform
to the data file layout specifications
provide by the CAHPS Database. Since
the unit of analysis is at the health plan
level, submitters will upload one data
file per health plan. Once a data file is
uploaded the file will be automatically
checked to ensure it conforms to the
specifications and a data file status

report will be produced and made
available to the submitter. Submitters
will review each report and will be
expected to fix any errors in their data
file and resubmit if necessary. It will
take about one hour to submit the data
for each plan, and each POC will submit
data for 4 plans on average. The total
burden is estimated to be 490 hours
annually.
Exhibit 2 shows the estimated
annualized cost burden based on the
respondents’ time to complete one
submission process. The cost burden is
estimated to be $20,202 annually.

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 ............................................................................................
Health Plan Information Form .........................................................................
Data Use Agreement .......................................................................................
Data Files Submission .....................................................................................

80
80
60
80

1
4
1
4

5/60
30/60
3/60
1

7
160
3
320

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

300

NA

NA

490

EXHIBIT 2—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN
Number of
respondents/
POCs

Form name

Total burden
hours

Average
hourly wage
rate*

Total cost
burden

Registration Form ............................................................................................
Health Plan Information Form .........................................................................
Data Use Agreement .......................................................................................
Data Files Submission .....................................................................................

80
80
60
80

7
160
3
320

47.34\a\
47.34\a\
85.02\b\
37.63\c\

$331
7,574
255
12,042

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

300

490

NA

20,202

*National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United States May 2012, ‘‘U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.’’
(a) Based on the mean hourly wage for Medical and Health Services Managers (11–9111).
(b) Based on the mean hourly wage for Chief Executives (11–1011).
(c) Based on the mean hourly wages for Computer Programmer (15–1131).

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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 health care
research and health care 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.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES

Dated: October 31, 2013.
Richard Kronick,
Director.

Proposed Data Collections Submitted
for Public Comment and
Recommendations

[FR Doc. 2013–27176 Filed 11–15–13; 8:45 am]

In compliance with the requirement
of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for
opportunity for public comment on
proposed data collection projects, the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic
summaries of proposed projects. To
request more information on the
proposed projects or to obtain a copy of
the data collection plans and
instruments, call 404–639–7570 and

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Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention
[60 Day–14–0636]

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