[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 22, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8572-8573]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-3231]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: DoD, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health 
Affairs, TRICARE Management Activity.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995, the Department of Defense, Office of the 
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, TRICARE Management 
Activity announces a proposed public information collection and seeks 
public comment on the provisions thereof. Comments are invited on: (a) 
Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection; 
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
information collection on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.

DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by April 
25, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: Office of the 
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, TRICARE Management 
Activity, Skyline Five, Suite 810, 5111 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 
22041-3206.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on this 
proposed information collection or to obtain a copy of the proposed and 
associated collection instruments, please write to the above address or 
call Capt. Deborah McKay, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense 
for Health Affairs, TRICARE Management Activity at (703) 681-0064.
    Title and OMB Number: DoD Patient Safety Survey; OMB Number 0720-
TBD.
    Needs and Uses: The 2001 National Defense Authorization Act 
contains specific sections addressing patient safety in military and 
veteran's health care systems. This legislation states that the 
Secretary or Defense shall establish a patient care error reporting and 
management system to study occurrences of errors in patient care and 
that one of the purposes of the system should be ``To identify systemic 
factors that are associated with such occurrences'' and ``To provide 
for action to be taken to correct the identified systemic factors'' 
(Sec. 754, items b2 and b3). In addition, the legislation states that 
the Secretary shall ``Continue research and development investments to 
improve communication, coordination, and team work in the provision of 
health care'' (Sec. 754, item d4).
    In its ongoing response to this legislation, DoD plans to implement 
a Web-based patient safety culture survey to a census of all staff 
working in Army, Navy, and Air Force Military Health System (MHS) 
facilities in the U.S. and internationally, including Military 
Treatment Facility (MTF) hospitals as well as ambulatory and dental 
services. The survey obtains MHS staff opinions on patient safety 
issues such as teamwork, communications, medical error occurrence and 
response, error reporting, and overall perceptions of patient safety. 
The purpose of the survey is to assess the current status of patient 
safety in MHS facilities as well as to provide baseline input for 
assessment of patient safety improvement over time. Survey results will 
be prepared at the facility and Service levels and MHS overall.
    Affected Public: Federal government; individuals or households.
    Annual Burden Hours: 2,384.
    Number of Respondents: 14,022.
    Responses Per Respondent: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: 10 minutes.
    Frequency: On occasion.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Summary of Collection

    The survey to be implemented is the pilot-tested Agency for 
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Survey on Patient Safety Culture 
that was publicly released in November 2004. The development and 
testing of this survey was funded by the AHRQ and sponsored by the 
Department of Defense as an agency member of the Quality Interagency 
Coordination Task Force (QuIC), along with ten other Federal agencies. 
The pilot of the AHRQ Survey on Patient Safety Culture was previously 
approved by OMB (No.: 0935-0115, Exp. Date: 01/31/2004). This survey 
was chosen because it measures a number of different dimensions 
pertaining to patient safety culture, has demonstrated reliability and 
validity, and the specificity of the items will provide the DoD with 
actionable information about MHS patient safety.

Data Collection Method

    The proposed project will administer the patient safety culture 
survey as a web-based instrument to a census of all staff, both 
clinical and non-clinical, working in all U.S. and international MHS 
facilities. Due to the large number of staff to be surveyed across the 
Services, data collection will be phased beginning with the Army, 
followed by the Navy and Air Force. Standard survey procedures will be 
implemented. Potential respondents will receive a prenotification 
letter followed by an email survey notification containing an embedded 
hyperlink to the internet location where the survey can be completed. 
Two additional e-mail survey notifications will be sent, a week apart, 
so that the data collection field period will be four weeks for each 
Service. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete. All survey

[[Page 8573]]

responses are voluntary and will be individually anonymous; only group-
level results will be tabulated to protect individual anonymity.
    There are a total of approximately 125,663 MHS staff in the United 
States and internationally (estimate on 12/16/04). Of these staff, 
approximately 18,696 staff (about 15%) are contractors, local 
nationals, volunteers or other MHS staff who are not direct employees 
of the DoD. Because OMB approval is required only for the non-DoD staff 
component, we provide estimates of the respondent burden for only these 
non-DoD MHS staff. Anticipating a 75% response rate, we anticipate 
responses from approximately 14,022 non-DoD MHS staff.

    Dated: February 7, 2005.
Patricia L. Toppings,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 05-3231 Filed 2-18-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5001-06-M