[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 159 (Tuesday, August 18, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50000-50005]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-20358]


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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.

[[Page 50001]]


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 changes to the 
currently approved information collection project: ``Medical 
Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component and the MEPS 
Medical Provider Component.'' 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 September 20, 2015 and allowed 60 days for 
public comment. AHRQ received no substantive comments. The purpose of 
this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comment.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by September 17, 2015.

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 
email at [email protected] (attention: AHRQ's desk officer).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ Reports 
Clearance Officer, (301) 427-1477, or 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

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC)

    For over thirty years, results from the MEPS and its predecessor 
surveys (the 1977 National Medical Care Expenditure Survey, the 1980 
National Medical Care Utilization and Expenditure Survey and the 1987 
National Medical Expenditure Survey) have been used by OMB, DHHS, 
Congress and a wide number of health services researchers to analyze 
health care use, expenses and health policy.
    Major changes continue to take place in the health care delivery 
system. The MEPS is needed to provide information about the current 
state of the health care system as well as to track changes over time. 
The MEPS permits annual estimates of use of health care and 
expenditures and sources of payment for that health care. It also 
permits tracking individual change in employment, income, health 
insurance and health status over two years. The use of the National 
Health Interview Survey (NHIS) as a sampling frame expands the MEPS 
analytic capacity by providing another data point for comparisons over 
time.
    Households selected for participation in the MEPS-HC are 
interviewed five times in person. These rounds of interviewing are 
spaced about 5 months apart. The interview will take place with a 
family respondent who will report for him or herself and for other 
family members.
    The goal of MEPS-HC is to provide nationally representative 
estimates for the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population for 
health care use, expenditures, sources of payment and health insurance 
coverage.

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Medical Provider Component 
(MPC)

    The MEPS-MPC will contact medical providers (hospitals, physicians, 
home health agencies and institutions) identified by household 
respondents in the MEPS-HC as sources of medical care for the time 
period covered by the interview, and all pharmacies providing 
prescription drugs to household members during the covered time period. 
The MEPS-MPC is not designed to yield national estimates as a stand-
alone survey. The sample is designed to target the types of individuals 
and providers for whom household reported expenditure data was expected 
to be insufficient. For example, Medicaid enrollees are targeted for 
inclusion in the MEPS-MPC because this group is expected to have 
limited information about payments for their medical care.
    There is one addition to the MEPS-MPC being implemented in this 
renewal request, the MEPS MPC Medical Organizations Survey (MOS). The 
MEPS MOS will expand current MPC data collection activities to include 
information on the organization of the practices of office-based care 
providers identified as a usual source of care in the MEPS MPC. This 
additional data collection will be for a subset of office-based care 
providers already included in the MEPS MPC sample. In the MEPS MPC 
sample, for a nationally representative sample of adults, primary 
location for individual's office-based usual sources of care will be 
identified. The MEPS MPC will contact these places where medical care 
is provided, determine the appropriate respondent and administer a MEPS 
MOS. The design of the survey will be multimodal including some 
telephone contact. Additional data collection methods may include 
phone, fax, mail, self administration, electronic transmission, and the 
Web. The data collection method chosen for a provider shall be the 
method that results in the most complete and accurate data with least 
burden to the provider.
    The MEPS-MPC collects event level data about medical care received 
by sampled persons during the relevant time period. The data collected 
from medical providers include:

     Dates on which medical encounters during the reference 
period occurred.
     Data on the medical content of each encounter, 
including ICD-9 (or ICD-10) and CPT-4 codes.
     Data on the charges associated with each encounter, the 
sources paying for the medical care, including the patient/family, 
public sources, and private insurance, and amounts paid by each 
source.

    Data collected from pharmacies include:

 Date of prescription fill
 National drug code (NDC) or prescription name, strength and 
form
 Quantity
 Payments, by source

    The MEPS-MPC has the following goal:

     To serve as an imputation source for and to supplement/
replace household reported expenditure and source of payment 
information. This data will supplement, replace and verify 
information provided by household respondents about the charges, 
payments, and sources of payment associated with specific health 
care encounters.

    This study is being conducted by AHRQ through its contractors, 
Westat and RTI International, pursuant to AHRQ's statutory authority to 
conduct and support research on health care and on systems for the 
delivery of such care, including activities with respect to the cost 
and use of health care services and with respect to health statistics 
and surveys. 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(3) and (8); 42 U.S.C. 299b-2.

Method of Collection

    To achieve the goals of the MEPS-HC the following data collections 
are implemented:

    1. Household Component Core Instrument. The core instrument 
collects data about persons in sample households. Topical areas 
asked in each round of interviewing include condition enumeration, 
health status, health care utilization including prescribed 
medicines, expense and payment, employment, and health insurance. 
Other topical areas that are asked only once a year

[[Page 50002]]

include access to care, income, assets, satisfaction with health 
plans and providers, children's health, and adult preventive care. 
While many of the questions are asked about the entire reporting 
unit (RU), which is typically a family, only one person normally 
provides this information. All sections of the current core 
instrument are available on the AHRQ Web site at http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/survey_questionnaires.jsp.
    2. Adult Self-Administered Questionnaire. A brief self-
administered questionnaire will be used to collect self-reported 
(rather than through household proxy) information on health status, 
health opinions and satisfaction with health care for adults 18 and 
older (see http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/survey.jsp#supplemental). The satisfaction with health care items 
are a subset of items from the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare 
Providers and Systems (CAHPS[supreg]). The health status items are 
from the Short Form 12 Version 2 (SF-12 version 2), which has been 
widely used as a measure of self-reported health status in the 
United States, the Kessler Index (K6) of non-specific psychological 
distress, and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2). This 
questionnaire is unchanged from the previous OMB clearance.
    3. Diabetes Care Self-Administered Questionnaire. A brief self-
administered paper-and-pencil questionnaire on the quality of 
diabetes care is administered once a year (during round 3 and 5) to 
persons identified as having diabetes. Included are questions about 
the number of times the respondent reported having a hemoglobin A1c 
blood test, whether the respondent reported having his or her feet 
checked for sores or irritations, whether the respondent reported 
having an eye exam in which the pupils were dilated, the last time 
the respondent had his or her blood cholesterol checked and whether 
the diabetes has caused kidney or eye problems. Respondents are also 
asked if their diabetes is being treated with diet, oral medications 
or insulin. This questionnaire is unchanged from the previous OMB 
clearance. See http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/survey.jsp#supplemental.
    4. Authorization forms for the MEPS-MPC Provider and Pharmacy 
Survey. As in previous panels of the MEPS, we will ask respondents 
for authorization to obtain supplemental information from their 
medical providers (hospitals, physicians, home health agencies and 
institutions) and pharmacies. See http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/survey.jsp#MPC_AF for the pharmacy and provider 
authorization forms.
    5. MEPS Validation Interview. Each interviewer is required to 
have at least 15 percent of his/her caseload validated to insure 
that computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI) questionnaire 
content was asked appropriately and procedures followed, for example 
the use of show cards. Validation flags are set programmatically for 
cases pre-selected by data processing staff before each round of 
interviewing. Home office and field management may also request that 
other cases be validated throughout the field period. When an 
interviewer fails a validation all their work is subject to 100 
percent validation. Additionally, any case completed in less than 30 
minutes is validated. A validation abstract form containing selected 
data collected in the CAPI interview is generated and used by the 
validator to guide the validation interview.

    To achieve the goal of the MEPS-MPC the following data collections 
are implemented:

    1. MPC Contact Guide/Screening Call. An initial screening call 
is placed to determine the type of facility, whether the practice or 
facility is in scope for the MEPS-MPC, the appropriate MEPS-MPC 
respondent and some details about the organization and availability 
of medical records and billing at the practice/facility. All 
hospitals, physician offices, home health agencies, institutions and 
pharmacies are screened by telephone. A unique screening instrument 
is used for each of these seven provider types in the MEPS-MPC, 
except for the two home care provider types which use the same 
screening form; see http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/survey.jsp#MPC_CG.
    2. Home Care Provider Questionnaire for Health Care Providers. 
This questionnaire is used to collect data from home health care 
agencies which provide medical care services to household 
respondents. Information collected includes type of personnel 
providing care, hours or visits provided per month, and the charges 
and payments for services received. See http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/survey.jsp#MPC.
    3. Home Care Provider Questionnaire for Non-Health Care 
Providers. This questionnaire is used to collect information about 
services provided in the home by non-health care workers to 
household respondents because of a medical condition; for example, 
cleaning or yard work, transportation, shopping, or child care. See 
http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/survey.jsp#MPC.
    4. Medical Event Questionnaire for Office-Based Providers. This 
questionnaire is for office-based physicians, including doctors of 
medicine (MDs) and osteopathy (DOs), as well as providers practicing 
under the direction or supervision of an MD or DO (e.g., physician 
assistants and nurse practitioners working in clinics). Providers of 
care in private offices as well as HMOs are included. See http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/survey.jsp#MPC.
    5. Medical Event Questionnaire for Separately Billing Doctors. 
This questionnaire collects information from physicians identified 
by hospitals (during the Hospital Event data collection) as 
providing care to sampled persons during the course of inpatient, 
outpatient department or emergency room care, but who bill 
separately from the hospital. See http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/survey.jsp#MPC.
    6. Hospital Event Questionnaire. This questionnaire is used to 
collect information about hospital events, including inpatient 
stays, outpatient department, and emergency room visits. Hospital 
data are collected not only from the billing department, but from 
medical records and administrative records departments as well. 
Medical records departments are contacted to determine the names of 
all the doctors who treated the patient during a stay or visit. In 
many cases, the hospital administrative office also has to be 
contacted to determine whether the doctors identified by medical 
records billed separately from the hospital itself; the doctors that 
do bill separately from the hospital will be contacted as part of 
the Medical Event Questionnaire for Separately Billing Doctors. HMOs 
are included in this provider type. See http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/survey.jsp#MPC.
    7. Institution Event Questionnaire. This questionnaire is used 
to collect information about institution events, including nursing 
homes, rehabilitation facilities and skilled nursing facilities. 
Institution data are collected not only from the billing department, 
but from medical records and administrative records departments as 
well. Medical records departments are contacted to determine the 
names of all the doctors who treated the patient during a stay. In 
many cases, the institution administrative office also has to be 
contacted to determine whether the doctors identified by medical 
records billed separately from the institution itself. See http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/survey.jsp#MPC).
    8. Pharmacy Data Collection Questionnaire. This questionnaire 
requests the national drug code (NDC) and when that is not available 
the prescription name, date prescription was filled, payments by 
source, prescription strength and form (when the NDC is not 
available), quantity, and person for whom the prescription was 
filled. When the NDC is available, we do not ask for prescription 
name, strength or form because that information is embedded in the 
NDC; this reduces burden on the respondent. Most pharmacies have the 
requested information available in electronic format and respond by 
providing a computer-generated printout of the patient's 
prescription information. If the computerized form is unavailable, 
the pharmacy can report their data to a telephone interviewer. 
Pharmacies are also able to provide a CD-ROM with the requested 
information if that is preferred. HMOs are included in this provider 
type. See http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/survey.jsp#MPC.
    9. Medical Organizations Survey Questionnaire. This 
questionnaire will collect essential information on important 
features of the staffing, organization, policies, and financing for 
identified usual source of office based care providers. This 
additional data collection will be a subset of office based care 
providers already included in the MEPS MPC sample and will be a 
nationally representative sample of adults' primary location for 
individuals office based usual sources of care.

    Dentists, optometrists, psychologists, podiatrists, chiropractors, 
and others not providing care under the supervision of a MD or DO are 
considered out of scope for the MEPS-MPC.
    The MEPS is a multi-purpose survey. In addition to collecting data 
to yield annual estimates for a variety of

[[Page 50003]]

measures related to health care use and expenditures, MEPS also 
provides estimates of measures related to health status, consumer 
assessment of health care, health insurance coverage, demographic 
characteristics, employment and access to health care indicators. 
Estimates can be provided for individuals, families and population 
subgroups of interest. Data obtained in this study are used to provide, 
among others, the following national estimates:

 Annual estimates of health care use and expenditures for 
persons and families
 Annual estimates of sources of payment for health care 
utilizations, including public programs such as Medicare and 
Medicaid, private insurance, and out of pocket payments
 Annual estimates of health care use, expenditures and 
sources of payment of persons and families by type of utilization 
including inpatient stay, ambulatory care, home health, dental care 
and prescribed medications
 The number and characteristics of the population eligible 
for public programs including the use of services and expenditures 
of the population(s) eligible for benefits under Medicare and 
Medicaid
 The number, characteristics, and use of services and 
expenditures of persons and families with various forms of insurance
 Annual estimates of consumer satisfaction with health care, 
and indicators of health care quality for key conditions
 Annual estimates to track disparities in health care use 
and access

    In addition to national estimates, data collected in this ongoing, 
longitudinal study are used to study the determinants of the use of 
services and expenditures, and changes in the access to and the 
provision of health care in relation to:

 Socio-economic and demographic factors such as employment 
or income
 The health status and satisfaction with health care of 
individuals and families
 The health needs and circumstances of specific 
subpopulation groups such as the elderly and children

    To meet the need for national data on health care use, access, cost 
and quality, MEPS-HC collects information on:

 Access to care and barriers to receiving needed care
 Satisfaction with usual providers
 Health status and limitations in activities
 Medical conditions for which health care was used
 Use, expense and payment (as well as insurance status of 
person receiving care) for health services

    Given the twin problems of the lack of response and response error 
of some household reported data, information is collected directly from 
medical providers in the MEPS-MPC to improve the accuracy of 
expenditure estimates derived from the MEPS-HC. Because of their 
greater level of precision and detail, we also use MEPS-MPC data as the 
main source of imputations of missing expenditure data. Thus, the MEPS-
MPC is designed to satisfy the following analytical objectives:

 Serve as source data for household reported events with 
missing expenditure information
 Serve as an imputation source to reduce the level of bias 
in survey estimates of medical expenditures due to item nonresponse 
and less complete and less accurate household data
 Serve as the primary data source for expenditure estimates 
of medical care provided by separately billing doctors in hospitals, 
emergency rooms, and outpatient departments, Medicaid recipients and 
expenditure estimates for pharmacies
 Allow for an examination of the level of agreement in 
reported expenditures from household respondents and medical 
providers

    Data from the MEPS, both the HC and MPC components, are intended 
for a number of annual reports produced by AHRQ, including the National 
Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report.
    The MEPS MPC MOS data will be used to create a database that will 
be unique in providing an internally consistent source of information 
both on individuals' characteristics and health care utilization and 
expenditures, and on the characteristics of the providers they use. The 
following areas will be addressed in the MOS as they potentially affect 
individuals' access to, use of and affordability of health care 
services:

 Organizational characteristics, e.g., size, specialties 
covered, practice rules and procedures, patient mix and scope of 
care provided, membership in an ACO, certification as a primary care 
medical home
 Use of health information technology
 Policies and practices related to the Affordable Care Act
 Financial arrangements, e.g., reimbursement methods, number 
and types of insurance contracts, compensation arrangements within 
the practice

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annualized burden hours for the 
respondents' time to participate in the MEPS-HC and the MEPS-MPC. The 
MEPS-HC Core Interview will be completed by 15,093* (see note below 
Exhibit 1) ``family level'' respondents, also referred to as RU 
respondents. Since the MEPS-HC consists of 5 rounds of interviewing 
covering a full two years of data, the annual average number of 
responses per respondent is 2.5 responses per year. The MEPS-HC core 
requires an average time of 92 minutes to administer. The Adult SAQ 
will be completed once a year by each person in the RU that is 18 years 
old and older, an estimated 28,254 persons. The Adult SAQ requires an 
average of 7 minutes to complete. The Diabetes care SAQ will be 
completed once a year by each person in the RU identified as having 
diabetes, an estimated 2,345 persons, and takes about 3 minutes to 
complete. The authorization form for the MEPS-MPC Provider Survey will 
be completed once for each medical provider seen by any RU member. The 
14,489 RUs in the MEPS-HC will complete an average of 5.4 forms, which 
require about 3 minutes each to complete. The authorization form for 
the MEPS-MPC Pharmacy Survey will be completed once for each pharmacy 
for any RU member who has obtained a prescription medication. RUs will 
complete an average of 3.1 forms, which take about 3 minutes to 
complete. About one third of all interviewed RUs will complete a 
validation interview as part of the MEPS-HC quality control, which 
takes an average of 5 minutes to complete. The total annual burden 
hours for the MEPS-HC are estimated to be 67,826 hours.
    All medical providers and pharmacies included in the MEPS-MPC will 
receive a screening call and the MEPS-MPC uses 7 different 
questionnaires; 6 for medical providers and 1 for pharmacies. Each 
questionnaire is relatively short and requires 2 to 15 minutes to 
complete. The total annual burden hours for the MEPS-MPC are estimated 
to be 18,876 hours. The total annual burden for the MEPS-HC and MPC is 
estimated to be 86,702 hours.
    Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annual cost burden associated with 
the respondents' time to participate in this information collection. 
The annual cost burden for the MEPS-HC is estimated to be $1,540,328; 
the annual cost burden for the MEPS-MPC is estimated to be $302,985. 
The total annual cost burden for the MEPS-HC and MPC is estimated to be 
$1,843,313.

[[Page 50004]]



                                  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
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     MEPS-HC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MEPS-HC Core Interview..........................        * 15,093             2.5           92/60          57,857
Adult SAQ.......................................          28,254               1            7/60           3,296
Diabetes care SAQ...............................           2,345               1            3/60             117
Authorization form for the MEPS-MPC Provider              14,489             5.4            3/60           3,912
 Survey.........................................
Authorization form for the MEPS-MPC Pharmacy              14,489             3.1            3/60           2,246
 Survey.........................................
MEPS-HC Validation Interview....................           4,781               1            5/60             398
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Subtotal for the MEPS-HC....................          79,451              na              na          67,826
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                  MEPS-MPC/MOS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MPC Contact Guide/Screening Call **.............          35,222               1            2/60           1,174
Home care for health care providers                          532            1.49            9/60             119
 questionnaire..................................
Home care for non-health care providers                       25               1           11/60               5
 questionnaire..................................
Office[dash]based providers questionnaire.......          11,785            1.44           10/60           2,828
Separately billing doctors questionnaire........          12,693            3.43           13/60           9,433
Hospitals questionnaire.........................           5,077            3.51            9/60           2,673
Institutions (non-hospital) questionnaire.......             117            2.03            9/60              36
Pharmacies questionnaire........................           4,993            4.44            3/60           1,108
Medical Organizations Survey questionnaire......           6,000               1           15/60           1,500
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Subtotal for the MEPS-MPC...................          76,444              na              na          18,876
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
        Grand Total.............................         155,895              na              na          86,702
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* While the expected number of responding units for the annual estimates is 14,489, it is necessary to adjust
  for survey attrition of initial respondents by a factor of 0.96 (15,093 = 14,489/0.96).
** There are 6 different contact guides; one for office based, separately billing doctor, hospital, institution,
  and pharmacy provider types, and the two home care provider types use the same contact guide.


                                   Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Number of     Total burden   Average hourly    Total cost
                    Form name                       respondents        hours         wage rate        burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     MEPS-HC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MEPS-HC Core Interview..........................          15,093          57,857        * $22.71      $1,313,932
Adult SAQ.......................................          28,254           3,296         * 22.71          74,852
Diabetes care SAQ...............................           2,345             117         * 22.71           2,657
Authorization forms for the MEPS-MPC Provider             14,489           3,912         * 22.71          88,842
 Survey.........................................
Authorization form for the MEPS-MPC Pharmacy              14,489           2,246         * 22.71          51,007
 Survey.........................................
MEPS-HC Validation Interview....................           4,781             398         * 22.71           9,039
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Subtotal for the MEPS-HC....................          79,451          67,826              na       1,540,328
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                  MEPS-MPC/MOS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MPC Contact Guide/Screening Call................          35,222           1,174        ** 16.12          18,925
Home care for health care providers                          532             119        ** 16.12           1,918
 questionnaire..................................
Home care for non-health care providers                       25               5        ** 16.12              81
 questionnaire..................................
Office-based providers questionnaire............          11,785           2,828        ** 16.12          45,587
Separately billing doctors questionnaire........          12,693           9,433        ** 16.12         152,060
Hospitals questionnaire.........................           5,077           2,673        ** 16.12          43,089
Institutions (non-hospital) questionnaire.......             117              36        ** 16.12             580
Pharmacies questionnaire........................           4,993           1,108       *** 14.95          16,565
Medical Organizations Survey questionnaire......           6,000           1,500        ** 16.12          24,180
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Subtotal for the MEPS-MPC...................          76,444          18,876              na         302,985
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
        Grand Total.............................         155,895          86,073              na       1,843,313
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Mean hourly wage for All Occupations (00-0000).
** Mean hourly wage for Medical Secretaries (43-6013).
*** Mean hourly wage for Pharmacy Technicians (29-2052).
Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2014 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates United States,
  U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#b29-0000.


[[Page 50005]]

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.

Sharon B. Arnold,
Deputy Director.
[FR Doc. 2015-20358 Filed 8-17-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-P