[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 53 (Tuesday, March 19, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10085-10087]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-05141]


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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) Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Survey Database.''

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by May 20, 2019.

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 emails at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project

Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS[supreg]) 
Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Survey 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. The CAHPS Home and Community-Based Services Survey is the 
first cross-disability survey of home and community-based service 
beneficiaries' experience receiving long-term services and supports. It 
is designed to facilitate comparisons across state Medicaid HCBS 
programs throughout the country that target adults with disabilities, 
e.g., including frail elderly, individuals with physical disabilities, 
persons with developmental or intellectual disabilities, those with 
acquired brain injury and persons with severe mental illness.
    The HCBS CAHPS Survey was developed by the Centers for Medicare & 
Medicaid Services (CMS) for

[[Page 10086]]

voluntary use by state Medicaid programs, including both fee-for-
service HCBS programs as well as managed long-term services and 
supports (MLTSS) programs. States with adequate sample sizes may 
consider using survey metrics in value-based purchasing initiatives.
    The HCBS-CAHPS Database will serve as a primary source of data 
available to states, agency programs and researchers to help answer 
important questions related to beneficiary experiences. AHRQ, through 
its contractor, will collect and make available de-identified survey 
data, enabling HCBS programs to identify areas where quality can be 
improved.
    Rationale for the information collection. Aggregated HCBS-CAHPS 
Database results will be made publicly available on AHRQ's CAHPS 
website. Technical assistance will be provided by AHRQ, through its 
contractor, at no charge to programs to facilitate the access and use 
of these materials for quality improvement and research. Technical 
assistance will also be provided to support HCBS-CAHPS data submission.
    The HCBS-CAHPS Database will support AHRQ's goals of promoting 
improvements in the quality and patient-centeredness of health care in 
home or community-based care settings. This research has the following 
goals:
    1. Improve care provided by individual providers and state 
programs.
    2. Offer several products and services, including providing survey 
results presented through an Online Reporting System, summary 
chartbooks, custom analyses, private reports and data for research 
purposes.
    3. Provide information to help identify strengths and areas with 
potential for improvement in patient care.
    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 improvement; and health surveys and database 
development 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(1) and (2), and (8).

Method of Collection

    The development and operation of the HCBS-CAHPS Database will 
include the following major components undertaken by AHRQ through its 
contractor. To achieve the goals of this project, the following 
activities and data collections that constitute information collection 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) will be implemented:
     Registration with the site to obtain an account with a 
secure username and password: The point-of-contact (POC) completes an 
online registration form, providing contact and organizational 
information required to initiate the registration process.
     Submission of signed Data Use Agreements (DUAs) and survey 
questionnaires: The data use agreement completed by the participating 
organization provides confidentiality assurances and states how the 
data submitted will be used.
     Submission of program information form: The POC completes 
an online information form to describe organizational characteristics 
of the program.
     Submission of de-identified survey data files: POCs upload 
data files in the format specified in the data file specifications to 
ensure data submitted is standardized and consistently named and coded.
     Follow-up with submitters in the event of a rejected file, 
to assist in making corrections and resubmitting the file.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Exhibit 1 shows the estimated burden hours for the respondents to 
participate in the database. The 51 POCs in Exhibit 1 represent the 51 
states or agencies that will administer the Adult HCBS survey. An 
estimated 13 survey vendors will assist them.
    Each state or agency will register online for submission. The 
online Registration form will require about 5 minutes to complete. Each 
submitter will also complete a program information form of information 
about each program such as the name of the program, program size, 
state, etc. The online program information form takes on average 5 
minutes to complete. The data use agreement will be completed by each 
of the 51 participating States. Survey vendors do not sign or submit 
DUAs. The DUA requires about 3 minutes to sign and return by fax or 
mail. Each submitter, which in most cases will be the survey vendor 
performing the data collection, 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 
provided by the HCBS-CAHPS Database. Since the unit of analysis is at 
the program level, submitters will upload one data file per program. 
Once a data file is uploaded the file will be automatically checked 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 correct any errors in their 
data file and resubmit if necessary. It will take about one hour to 
submit the data for each program. The total burden is estimated to be 
63 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...............................              51               1            5/60            4.25
Program Information Form........................              51               1            5/60            4.25
Data Use Agreement..............................              51               1            3/60             2.5
Data Files Submission...........................              13               4               1              52
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................             166              NA              NA              63
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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 $2,880 annually.

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                                   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...............................              51            4.25       \a\ 53.69            $228
Program Information Form........................              51            4.25       \a\ 53.69             228
Data Use Agreement..............................              51             2.5       \b\ 94.25             236
Data Files Submission...........................              13              52       \c\ 42.08           2,188
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................          ** 166              63              NA           2,880
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* National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United States May 2017, ``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).
** The 51 POCs listed for the registration form, program information form and the data use agreement are the
  estimated POCs from the estimated participating programs.

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's 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.

Gopal Khanna,
Director.
[FR Doc. 2019-05141 Filed 3-18-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-P