[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 60 (Friday, March 28, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17545-17547]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-06873]


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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: ``The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Health 
Care Innovations Exchange Innovator Interview and Innovator Email 
Submission Guidelines.'' In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, AHRQ invites the public to comment on this 
proposed information collection.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by May 27, 2014.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project

``The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Health Care 
Innovations Exchange Innovator Interview and Innovator Email Submission 
Guidelines.''

    This request for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review is 
for renewal of the existing collection that is currently approved under 
OMB Control No. 0935-0147, AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange 
Innovator Interview and AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange Innovator 
Email Submission Guidelines, which expires on May 31, 2014.
    The Health Care Innovations Exchange provides a national-level 
information hub to foster the implementation and adaptation of 
innovative strategies and policies that improve health care quality and 
reduce disparities in the care received by different populations. The 
Innovations Exchange's target audiences, broadly defined, are current 
and potential change agents in the U.S. health care system, including 
clinicians (e.g., physicians, nurses, and other providers), health care 
administrators, quality improvement professionals, researchers, 
educators, and policymakers.
    The goals of the Health Care Innovations Exchange are to:
    (1) Identify health care service delivery and policy innovations 
and provide a national level repository of searchable innovations and 
tools that enables health care decision makers to quickly identify 
ideas and tools that meet their needs. These innovations come from many 
care settings including inpatient facilities, outpatient facilities, 
long term care organizations, health plans, and community care 
settings. They also represent many patient populations, disease 
conditions, and processes of care such as preventive, acute, and 
chronic care.
    (2) Foster the implementation and adoption of health care service 
delivery and policy innovations that improve health care quality and 
reduce disparities in the care received by different populations.
    This data collection is being conducted by AHRQ through its 
contractor, Westat, pursuant to AHRQ's statutory authority (1) to 
conduct and support research on, and disseminate information on, health 
care and on systems for the delivery of such care, 42 U.S.C. 299a(a), 
and (2) to promote innovation in evidence-based health care practices 
and technologies by promoting education and training and providing 
technical assistance in the use of health care practice results, 42 
U.S.C. 299b-5(a)(4).

[[Page 17546]]

Method of Collection

    To achieve the first goal of the Innovations Exchange the following 
data collections will be implemented:
    (1) Email submission--Based on experience during the current 
approval period, approximately 10% of the health care innovations 
considered for inclusion annually, and their associated innovators, 
will submit their innovations via email to the Innovations Exchange 
without prior contact (about 8 annually). Innovators who submit their 
innovations for possible publication through the email submission 
process will be considered as will innovations identified by project 
staff through an array of sources that include: Published literature, 
conference proceedings, news items, list serves, Federal agencies and 
other government programs and resources, health care foundations, and 
health care associations.
     To meet the publication target of 75 new innovation 
profiles per year, a purposive sample of approximately 76 health care 
innovations will be identified and selected annually, in addition to 
the email submissions, for a total of 84 innovations considered 
annually for potential consideration. These innovations will be 
selected to ensure that innovations included in the Innovations 
Exchange cover a broad range of health care settings, care processes, 
policies, priority populations, and clinical conditions. Based on 
experience, approximately 10% of the candidate innovations either will 
not meet the inclusion criteria or their innovators will decide not to 
continue their participation after the interview. Therefore, 90% (75) 
of the 84 candidate innovations will move into the publication stage 
each year.
    (2) Health care innovator interview--To collect and verify the 
information required for the innovation profiles, health care 
innovators will be interviewed by telephone about the following aspects 
of their innovation: health care problem addressed, impetus for the 
innovation, goals of the innovation, description of the innovation, 
sources of funding, evaluation results for the innovation, setting for 
the innovation, history of planning and implementation for the 
innovation, and lessons learned concerning the implementation of the 
innovation. Interviews will be conducted with innovators identified by 
project staff and those identified through email submission.
    (3) Annual follow-up reviews--After the innovation profile is 
published, on a yearly basis, innovators will be contacted by email to 
review and update their profiles.
    The ultimate decision to publish a detailed profile of an 
innovation depends on several factors, including an evaluation by AHRQ, 
AHRQ's priorities, and the number of similar ideas in the Innovations 
Exchange. AHRQ's priorities include identifying and highlighting 
innovations (1) that will help reduce disparities in health care and 
health status; (2) that will have significant impact on the overall 
value of health care; (3) where the innovators have a strong interest 
in participating; and (4) that have been supported by AHRQ.
    The AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange's use of the interview 
guide and email submission guidelines assists in determining if the 
suggested innovation: (1) Meets established eligibility criteria of the 
Innovation Exchange, and (2) addresses AHRQ's priorities.
    Access to the AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange is freely 
available to the public at http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/. Diverse 
groups use the Innovations Exchange, ranging from nurses and health 
administrators, quality improvement professionals, researchers and 
educators. See http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/about.aspx which 
displays information about Innovations Exchange users by role for 2012-
2013.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annualized burden hours for the 
respondents' time to participate in this project. Approximately 84 
innovators will participate in the initial data collection each year 
with 75 of those being published to the Innovations Exchange Web site. 
About 8 innovations will be submitted by email, which requires 30 
minutes. All 84 potential innovators will participate in the health 
care innovator interview, including the 8 submitted via email. The 
interview will last about 75 minutes, and an average additional 30 
minutes is typically required for the innovator to review, comment on, 
and approve the written profile.
    Based on experience, approximately 10% of the candidate innovations 
either will not meet the inclusion criteria or their innovators will 
decide not to continue their participation after the interview. 
Therefore, 90% (75) of the 84 candidate innovations will move into the 
publication stage each year. Annual follow-up reviews will be conducted 
with all innovations that have been in the Innovations Exchange for at 
least one full year. With an expected total of 825 innovations in the 
Exchange by the end of the current approval period, and an additional 
225 to be added over the course of the next 3-year approval period (75 
per year), an average of 800 reviews will be conducted annually and 
will require about 15 minutes to complete. The number of profiles 
undergoing annual review will increase annually from 825 in the first 
year, to 900 in the second year, and 975 in the third year. The average 
annualized number of annual follow-up reviews is projected to be 800 as 
it is anticipated that approximately 100 profiles will be archived over 
three years. Archived profiles are excluded from annual review. The 
total annualized burden is estimated to be 347 hours.

                                  Exhibit 1--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of
                    Form name                        Number of     responses per     Hours per     Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       response          hours
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Email submission................................               8               1           30/60               4
Health care innovator interview.................              84               1           75/60             105
Innovator review and approval of written profile              75               1           30/60              38
Annual follow-up reviews........................             800               1           15/60             200
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................             967  ..............  ..............             347
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    Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annualized cost burden associated 
with the respondents' time to participate in this project. The total 
annualized cost burden is estimated to be $21,220.

[[Page 17547]]



                                   Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
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                                                                                      Average
                    Form name                        Number of     Total burden     hourly wage     Total cost
                                                    respondents        hours           rate*          burden
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Email submission................................               8               4          $61.15            $245
Health care innovator interview.................              84             105           61.15           6,421
Innovator review and approval of written profile              75              38           61.15           2,324
Annual follow-up reviews........................             800             200           61.15          12,230
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................             967             347  ..............          21,220
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*Average hourly wage rate for health care innovators is based upon statistics from the Bureau of Labor
  Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2012 (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes290000.htm), and was calculated as an average of the mean hourly wage rate for Family and General
  Practitioners and the mean hourly wage for all occupations in the major group, ``Healthcare Practitioners and
  Technical Occupations''.

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.
    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: March 19, 2014.
Richard Kronick,
AHRQ Director.
[FR Doc. 2014-06873 Filed 3-27-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-P