[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 246 (Thursday, December 22, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 93935-93936]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-30773]



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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: ``Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems 
(CAHPS) Health Plan Survey Comparative Database.''

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by February 21, 2017.

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: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, AHRQ invites the public to comment on this 
proposed information collection.

Proposed Project

Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Health 
Plan Survey Comparative Database

    The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) requests that 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reapprove, under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, AHRQ's collection of information for 
the AHRQ Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems 
(CAHPS) Database for Health Plans: OMB Control number 0935-0165, 
expiration May 31, 2017. The CAHPS Health Plan Database consists of 
data from the AHRQ CAHPS Health Plan Survey. Health plans in the U.S. 
are asked to voluntarily submit data from the survey to AHRQ, through 
its contractor, Westat. The CAHPS Database was developed by AHRQ in 
1998 in response to requests from health plans, purchasers, the Centers 
for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide comparative data to 
support public reporting of health plan ratings, health plan 
accreditation and quality improvement.
    This research has the following goals:
    (1) To maintain the CAHPS Health Plan database using data from 
AHRQ's standardized CAHPS Health Plan survey to provide comparative 
results to health care purchasers, consumers, regulators and policy 
makers across the country.
    (2) To offer several products and services, including comparative 
benchmark results presented through an Online Reporting System, summary 
chartbooks, custom analyses, and data for research purposes.
    (3) To provide data for AHRQ's annual National Healthcare Quality 
and Disparities Report.
    This study is being conducted by AHRQ through its contractor, 
Westat, 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 quality, effectiveness, 
efficiency, appropriateness and value of health care services; quality 
measurement and development, and database development. 42 U.S.C. 
299a(a)(1), (2) and 8.

Method of Collection

    To achieve the goals of this project the following data collections 
will be implemented:
    (1) Health Plan Registration Form--The point of contact (POC), 
often the sponsor from Medicaid agencies and health plans, completes a 
number of data submission steps and forms, beginning with the 
completion of the online registration form. The purpose of this form is 
to collect basic contact information about the organization and 
initiate the registration process.
    (2) Data Use Agreement (DUA)--The purpose of the data use 
agreement, completed by the participating sponsor organization, is to 
state how data submitted by health plans will be used and provides 
confidentiality assurances.
    (3) Health Plan Information Form--The purpose of this form, 
completed by the participating organization, is to collect background 
characteristics of the health plan.
    (4) Data Files Submission--POCs upload their data file using the 
Health Plan data file specifications, which are designed to ensure that 
users submit standardized and consistent data in the way variables are 
named, coded, and formatted.
    Survey data from the CAHPS Health Plan Database is used to produce 
four types of products: (1) an annual chartbook available to the public 
on the CAHPS Database Web site (https://www.cahpsdatabase.ahrq.gov/CAHPSIDB/Public/Chartbook.aspx); (2) individual participant comparative 
reports that are confidential and customized for each participating 
organization (e.g., health plan, Medicaid agency) that submits their 
data; (3) a research database available to researchers wanting to 
conduct additional analyses; and (4) data tables provided to AHRQ for 
inclusion in the National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Exhibit 1 shows the estimated burden hours for the respondent to 
participate in the database. The burden hours pertain only to the 
collection of Medicaid data from State Medicaid agencies and individual 
Medicaid health plans because those are the only entities that submit 
data through the data submission process (other data are obtained from 
CMS). The 85 POCs in Exhibit 1 are a combination of an estimated 75 
State Medicaid agencies and individual health plans, and 10 vendor 
organizations.
    Each State Medicaid agency, health plan or vendor will register 
online for submission. The online Registration form will require about 
5 minutes to complete. Each submitter will also complete a Health Plan 
information form of information about each Health Plan such as the name 
of the plan, the product type (e.g., HMO, PPO), the population surveyed 
(e.g., adult Medicaid or child Medicaid). Each year, the prior year's 
plan data are preloaded in the plan table to lessen burden on the 
Sponsor. The Sponsor is responsible for updating the plan table to 
reflect the current year's plan information. The online Health Plan 
Information form takes on average 30 minutes to complete per health 
plan with each POC completing the form for 4 plans on average.
    The data use agreement will be completed by the 75 participating 
State Medicaid agencies or individual health plans. Vendors do not sign 
or submit DUAs. The DUA requires about 3 minutes to sign and return by 
fax or mail. Submitters will provide a copy of their questionnaires and 
the survey data file in the required file format. Survey data files 
must conform to the data file layout specifications provide by the 
CAHPS Database.
    Since the unit of analysis is at the health plan level, submitters 
will upload one data file per health plan. Once a data file is uploaded 
the file will be automatically checked to ensure it

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conforms to the specifications and a data file status report will be 
produced and made available to the submitter. Submitters will review 
each report and will be expected to fix any errors in their data file 
and resubmit if necessary. It will take about one hour to submit the 
data for each plan, and each POC will submit data for 4 plans on 
average. The total burden is estimated to be 501 hours annually.

                                  Exhibit 1--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                     Number of       Number of
                    Form name                      respondents/    responses per     Hours per     Total burden
                                                       POCs             POC          response          hours
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Registration Form...............................              85               1            5/60               7
Health Plan Information Form....................              75               4           30/60             150
Data Use Agreement..............................              75               1            3/60               4
Data Files Submission...........................              85               4               1             340
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................             320              NA              NA             501
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    Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annualized cost burden based on the 
respondents' time to complete one submission process. The cost burden 
is estimated to be $22,153 annually.

                                   Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
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                                                     Number of     Total burden   Average hourly    Total cost
                    Form name                       respondents        hours        wage rate *       burden
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Registration Form...............................              85               7       \a\ 50.99            $357
Health Plan Information Form....................              75             150       \a\ 50.99           7,649
Data Use Agreement..............................              75               4       \b\ 89.35             357
Data Files Submission...........................              85             340       \c\ 40.56          13,790
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................             320             501              NA          22,153
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* National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United States May 2015, ``U.S. Department of Labor,
  Bureau of Labor Statistics.''
a) Based on the mean hourly wage for Medical and Health Services Managers (11-9111).
b) Based on the mean hourly wage for Chief Executives (11-1011).
c) Based on the mean hourly wages for Computer Programmer (15-1131).

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. 2016-30773 Filed 12-21-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4160-90-P