[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 129 (Friday, July 5, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32174-32175]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-14365]
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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.'' In
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, AHRQ invites the public to
comment on this proposed information collection.
This proposed information collection was previously published in
the Federal Register on March 19th, 2019 and allowed 60 days for public
comment. AHRQ received no substantive comments from members of the
public. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days
for public comment.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by 30 days after date
of publication.
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[supreg])
Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Survey Database
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 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 healthcare 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
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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
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Total....................................... 166 N/A N/A 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.
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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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
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Total....................................... ** 166 63 N/A 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.
Virginia L. Mackay-Smith,
Associate Director.
[FR Doc. 2019-14365 Filed 7-3-19; 8:45 am]
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