[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 51 (Friday, March 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14219-14221]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-05301]


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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) reapprove the information collection 
project: ``Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems 
(CAHPS) Health Plan Survey Comparative Database.'' 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 December 22, 2016 and allowed 60 days for 
public comment. Since AHRQ did not receive any substantive comments 
during this period, this notice allows for an additional 30 days for 
public comment.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by April 17, 2017.

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].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

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

[[Page 14220]]

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 submit 
data voluntarily 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 and with 
respect to quality measurement and improvement. 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(1) 
and (2).

Method of Collection

    To achieve the goals of this project the following data collections 
will be implemented:
    (1) CAHPS Health Plan Survey that includes the Adult Medicaid, 
Child Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) 
populations. The Adult data collection uses the Adult survey and the 
Child and SCHIP collections include a child survey with chronic 
conditions and a child survey without chronic condition items. The 
CAHPS Health Plan surveys ask enrollees about their recent experiences 
with health plans and their services. This standardized survey was 
designed to support consumers in assessing the performance of health 
plans and choosing the plans that best meet their needs. Health plans 
can also use the survey results to identify their strengths and 
weaknesses and target areas for improvement. Participants have access 
to resources regarding the data submission process, a user guide and a 
technical assistance help line.
    (2) Medicare health plan data are received from CMS.
    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 as noted earlier in Section 2). The 85 Point of Contact (POC)s 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. Each submitter will provide a copy of their questionnaire 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 checked automatically to ensure it 
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 1 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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[[Page 14221]]

    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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                                                                                      Average
                    Form name                        Number of     Total burden     hourly wage     Total cost
                                                    respondents        hours          rate *          burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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,
Acting Director.
[FR Doc. 2017-05301 Filed 3-16-17; 8:45 am]
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