Awardee interviews for the evaluation of the Advance Interoperable Health Information Technology to Support Health Information Exchange program

Form Approved

OMB No. 0955-0003

Exp. Date 12/31/2017

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dvance INTEROPERABle HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE (aHIE) Evaluation: Frequently asked questions

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) is sponsoring the Advanced Interoperability and Health Information Exchange (AHIE) program, a national effort to advance the standardized, secure, and interoperable movement of health information across organizational, vendor, and geographic boundaries. The objective of the effort is to enable better coordination, exchange of information, and interoperability between traditional health care system providers and individuals who deliver care across organizational, vendor, and geographic lines. ONC is sponsoring this program to connect providers and patients across traditional boundaries, increasing the adoption, exchange, and interoperability of electronic health data.

To ensure that these investments advance its mission, ONC wants to understand the impact of these programs in the awardee community. Specifically, ONC is interested in learning about each awardee’s program, including its design, implementation process, and outcomes. Specific topics of interest include the following: What strategies and techniques did the awardees use to engage the health care providers? How did the health care providers benefit from the program? Were any specific challenges encountered? If so, how were these challenges addressed?

ONC contracted with Mathematica Policy Research and National Quality Forum (NQF) to gather the information needed to answer these questions. Mathematica is an independent research company that provides objective analysis of policy and programs (more information on Mathematica is available at: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com). NQF is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan, membership-based organization that works to catalyze improvements in healthcare (more information on NQF is available at: http://www.qualityforum.org/what_we_do.aspx).

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0990-0003. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 90 minutes per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed, to review and complete the information collection. If you have comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, OS/OCIO/PRA, 200 Independence Ave., S.W., Suite 336-E, Washington D.C. 20201, Attention: PRA Reports Clearance Officer

Who will talk to me and what organization are they from?

The evaluation team, composed of Dr. Eric Lammers, Mynti Hossain, and Norberto Morales from Mathematica, and Jason Goldwater from NQF, will be requesting a 90-minute telephone interview with you and others involved with the program. Dr. Lammers is a health researcher, and Ms. Hossain and Mr. Morales are analysts at Mathematica. Jason Goldwater is a Senior Director at NQF. Each has worked on numerous mixed methods evaluations of health policies and programs.

What questions will be asked of me?

The evaluation team will ask you questions about your experience in the program. For example, they may ask how your organization recruited providers to participate in the program, the challenges that made it harder for your program to attain its goals, and how you or your partners addressed these challenges. The evaluation team will also seek feedback on how well your program’s logic model depicts your programs. There are no right or wrong answers. Hearing about your experiences with the program, bumps and all, will help the evaluation team to create an accurate and comprehensive picture that ONC and other stakeholders can use to continue to improve upon and expand efforts like yours to improve data sharing across care settings.

Will my answers be kept confidential?

Mathematica and NQF will keep your answers confidential and secure by summarizing the information you provide with the information captured through conversations with other program participants. At no time will your individual name be identified. However, the names of organizations may be used in the final report as the evaluation team summarizes your program, the progress you have made, and the facilitators and challenges you have faced.

Throughout the interview, the evaluation team will be taking notes and would like to audiotape the discussion solely to ensure that they have captured your comments accurately. The notes will not include information that identifies you. The audio recording will not be shared with anyone outside of the evaluation team and will be destroyed when the evaluation ends. You have the right to request not to be recorded, to pass on answering a question, and to stop the interview at any time.

How will you use the information you gather for the evaluation?

The evaluation team will use the information that you and others provide to describe in detail how the program was designed and implemented, and what its overall impact was. The evaluation team will also use this information to analyze trends across the AHIE awardees. These descriptions and the results of the analyses will be included in the final report that Mathematica and NQF will deliver to ONC. If you are interested in reading the final report, please let the evaluation team know during your telephone interview.

How can I find out more about ONC or the AHIE program?

ONC is the federal entity charged with coordinating nationwide efforts to use the most advanced health IT and to promote the electronic exchange of health information.

• To learn more about ONC, please visit https://www.healthit.gov/newsroom/about-onc.

• To learn more about the Advanced Interoperability and HIE program, please visit https://www.healthit.gov/newsroom/advance-interoperable-health-information-technology-services-support-health-information.

If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact Dr. Eric Lammers by email at [email protected] or by phone at (510) 285-4615.

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