[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 180 (Friday, September 17, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57033-57034]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-23110]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: 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: ``Evaluation of the National Guideline Clearinghouse.'' In 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520, AHRQ 
invites the public to comment on this proposed information collection.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by November 16, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz, 
Reports Clearance Officer, AHIRQ, by e-mail at 
[email protected].
    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 e-mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project

Evaluation of the National Guideline Clearinghouse

    The mission of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 
(AHRQ) is to enhance the quality, appropriateness, and effectiveness of 
Health services, and access to such services, through the establishment 
of a broad base of scientific research and through the promotion of 
improvements in clinical and health system practices, including the 
prevention of diseases and other health conditions. 42 U.S.C. 299(b). 
AHRQ supports the dissemination of evidence-based guidelines through 
its National Guideline ClearinghouseTM (NGC).
    The NGC serves as a publicly accessible Web-based database of 
evidence-based clinical practice guidelines meeting explicit criteria. 
The NGC also supports AHRQ's strategic goal on effectiveness: to 
improve health care outcomes by encouraging the use of evidence to make 
informed health care decisions. The NGC is a vehicle for such 
encouragement. The mission of the NGC is to provide physicians, nurses, 
and other health professionals, health care providers, health plans, 
integrated delivery systems, purchasers and others an accessible 
mechanism for obtaining objective, detailed information on clinical 
practice guidelines and to further their dissemination, implementation 
and use.
    AHRQ proposes to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the NGC. 
This evaluation will build on the site trends AHIRQ has already 
identified, including growth from 70,000 to 700,000 visits per month, 
600 to approximately 40,000 e-mail subscribers, 250 to 2,370 guidelines 
represented, and 50 to nearly 300 participating guideline developer 
organizations from July 1999 to July 2009.
    The objectives of the NGC evaluation are to gain a better 
understanding of how:
     The NGC is used.
     The NGC supports dissemination of evidence-based clinical 
practice guidelines and related documents.
     The NGC has influenced efforts in guideline development 
and guideline implementation and use.
     The NGC can be improved.
    This study is being conducted by AHRQ through its contractor, AFYA, 
Inc. and The Lewin Group (AFYA/Lewin), pursuant to AJ4RQ's statutory 
authority to conduct and support research and disseminate information 
on healthcare and on systems for the delivery of such care, including 
activities with respect to clinical practice. 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(4).

Method of Collection

    To achieve the objectives of this project the following data 
collections will be implemented:
    (1) NGC evaluation survey--a web-based survey administered to a 
convenience sample of both users and non-users of the NGC,
    (2) Focus groups--conducted with guideline developers, medical 
librarians, informatics specialists, clinicians, and students, and
    (3) Key informant interviews--in-person interviews conducted with 
influential individuals in medical societies, health plans, and quality 
improvement organizations as well as medical librarians, researchers, 
and informatics specialists who produce, use, and disseminate 
guidelines.
    Questions in the survey, focus group, and key informant discussion 
guides will focus on the effectiveness of NGC in areas of 
dissemination, implementation, and use of evidence-based clinical 
practice guidelines, and relative to other available guideline sources. 
For example, measures to be gathered through the instruments include 
the level of trust of the NGC, the use of the NGC relative to other 
guideline sources, and the influence of the NGC on various stakeholder 
groups. In addition, the instruments will be used to measure the use of 
other guideline resources which are used by non-NGC users.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annualized burden hours for the 
respondents' time to participate in this evaluation. The NGC evaluation 
questionnaire will be completed by approximately 40,220 persons and 
will require 10 minutes to complete for users of the NGC and about 2 
minutes for non-users. For the purpose of calculating respondent burden 
an average of 8 minutes is used and reflects a mix of users and non-
users with most respondents expected to be users.
    Eleven different focus groups consisting of 9 persons each will be 
conducted and are expected to last 90 minutes each. Key informant 
interviews will be conducted with 30 individuals and will last about 60 
minutes. The total annual burden hours are estimated to be 5,542 hours.
    Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annualized cost burden based on the 
respondents' time to participate in this project. The total annual cost 
burden is estimated to be $185,712.

[[Page 57034]]



                                  Exhibit 1--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                               Number of
         Data collection method              Number of       responses per       Hours per        Total burden
                                            respondents       respondent          response            hours
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NGC Evaluation Survey..................            40,220                 1             8/60               5,363
Focus Groups...........................                99                 1                1.5               149
Key Informant Interviews...............                30                 1                1                  30
                                        ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total..............................            40,349                NA               NA               5,542
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                                   Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
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                                              Number of       Total burden     Average hourly      Total cost
         Data collection method              respondents          hours          wage rate*          burden
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NGC Evaluation Survey...................            40,220             5,363            $33.51          $179,714
Focus Groups............................                99               149             33.51             4,993
Key Informant Interviews................                30                30             33.51             1,005
                                         -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total...............................            40,349             5,542                NA           185,712
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* Based upon the mean of the average wages for healthcare practitioner and technical occupations (29-0000)
  presented in the National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United States, May 2009, U.S.
  Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal Government

    Exhibit 3 shows the estimated total and annualized cost to the 
government for this one year project. The total cost is estimated to be 
$350,000 to conduct the one-time survey, 11 focus groups, and 30 key 
informant interviews and to analyze and present their results. This 
amount is the contract total for AFYA's contract with AHRQ to evaluate 
the NGC. This amount includes the costs for project development and 
management ($70,000 or 20% of the entire contract amount); data 
collection activities ($105,000 or 30% of the entire contract amount); 
data processing and analysis ($70,000 or 20% of the entire contract 
amount); and administrative support activities and reporting ($105,000 
or 30% of the entire contract amount).

             Exhibit 3--Estimated Total and Annualized Cost
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           Cost component                Total cost      Annualized cost
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Project Development and Management..           $70,000           $70,000
Data Collection Activities..........           105,000           105,000
Data Processing and Analysis........            70,000            70,000
Administrative Support and Reporting           105,000           105,000
                                     -----------------------------------
    Total...........................           350,000           350,000
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Request for Comments

    In accordance with the above-cited Paperwork Reduction Act 
legislation, 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 healthcare research and healthcare 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.
    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.

    Dated: September 1, 2010.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
Director.
[FR Doc. 2010-23110 Filed 9-16-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-M