[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 182 (Thursday, September 19, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49302-49304]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-20218]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality


Statement of Organization, Functions, and Delegations of 
Authority

    Part E, Chapter E (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality), of 
the Statement of Organization, Functions, and Delegations of Authority 
for the Department of Health and Human Services (61 FR 15955-58, April 
10, 1996, most recently amended at 81 FR 22271, on April 15, 2016) is 
amended to reflect recent organizational changes. The specific 
amendments are as follows:
    I. Under Section E-10, Organization, delete all components and 
replace with the following:
    A. Office of the Director.
    B. Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement.
    C. Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety.
    D. Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends.
    E. Office of Communications.
    F. Office of Extramural Research, Education, and Priority 
Populations.
    G. Office of Management Services.
    II. Under Section E-20, Functions, delete Center for Evidence and 
Practice Improvement, Center for Quality Improvement and Patient 
Safety, Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets, and Center for 
Financing Access and Cost Trends in its entirety and replace with the 
following:
    Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement. Conducts and supports 
research on health care delivery and practice improvement across the 
continuum of care from prevention to chronic care management to end of 
life care. Specifically: (1) Synthesizes evidence and translates 
science for multiple stakeholders; (2) advances decision and 
communication sciences to facilitate informed treatment and health care 
decision making by patients and their health care providers; (3) 
explores how health information technology can improve clinical 
decision making and health care quality; (4) catalyzes and promotes 
sustainability of improvements in clinical practice across health care 
settings through research,

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demonstration projects, and partnership development; (5) studies the 
roles that health professionals, health systems, and organizations play 
in the provision of health care services; (6) examines the role of 
health systems in improving quality and efficiency of health care 
services; and (7) operates the National Center for Excellence in 
Primary Care Research.
    Shall be organized into the following five divisions:
    Division of Evidence-Based Practice Centers: Produces evidence 
syntheses by conducting systematic evidence reviews using robust and 
rigorous methodologies and advances the methods of evidence synthesis 
to ensure scientific rigor and unbiased reviews.
    Division of U.S. Preventive Services Task Force: Provides 
scientific, administrative, and dissemination support for the 
independent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, enabling the Task 
Force to make evidence-based recommendations on clinical preventive 
services.
    Division of Digital Healthcare Research: Via advanced analytics to 
enhance health care decision making, the division focuses on conducting 
research to determine how the parts of the ever evolving digital health 
care ecosystem can best come together to affect transformational value 
for patients and their families in the safe delivery of care.
    Division of Practice Improvement: Advances the science of clinical 
practice improvement including shared decision making; evaluates and 
supports innovative models of practice transformation in diverse 
settings; facilitates communities of learning to promote the 
implementation of evidence for practice improvement; and serves as a 
trusted source of evidence and tools for methods, measures, and 
evaluation of practice improvement.
    Division of Healthcare Delivery and Systems Research: Develops new 
evidence, tools and measures to understand how health care is delivered 
in the U.S., emphasizing the roles that physicians, physician 
practices, hospitals, health systems, other medical professionals, and 
organizations play in the provision of health care services.
    Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. Measures 
performance of the U.S. health care system; identifies, promotes, and 
supports evidence-based research; and provides information that is used 
to improve the safety and quality of health care. Collaborates with 
stakeholders across the health care system to: Implement evidence-based 
practices, accelerate and amplify improvements in quality and patient 
safety.
    Shall be organized into the following four divisions:
    Division of General Patient Safety: Leads intramural and extramural 
research that focuses on the risks and harms inherent in the delivery 
of health care for a variety of conditions in all health care settings, 
including the hospital, ambulatory and long-term care facilities, and 
the home. Develops, tests, and facilitates understanding and use of 
evidence-based tools and information to improve the quality and safety 
of health care and reduce the risk of patient harm. Major topics of 
research and tool development include health care leadership and 
teamwork, safe medication use, health care simulation, diagnostic 
performance, care coordination, measurement, patient safety reporting 
and surveillance, detection and analysis, patient and family 
engagement, and health care facility design.
    Division of Patient Safety Organizations: Administers the Patient 
Safety Organization (PSO) Program in accordance with the Patient Safety 
and Quality Improvement Act of 2005. Approves and oversees PSOs that 
apply for official federal ``listing.'' Publishes Common Formats for 
measuring adverse events in hospitals.
    Division of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI): Leads AHRQ's 
robust program of research studies and implementation projects that has 
two closely related purposes: To prevent, reduce, and ultimately 
eliminate HAIs; and to combat antibiotic resistance. Fosters the 
creation of new knowledge and the generation of evidence to develop 
improved methods for preventing health care associated infections and 
improving antibiotic use in multiple health care settings, including 
hospital acute care, long-term care, and ambulatory care, and promotes 
the wide-scale implementation of effective interventions for preventing 
healthcare-associated infections and promoting antibiotic stewardship 
in all these care settings.
    Division of Quality Measurement and Improvement: Conducts quality 
measurement and evaluates improvement activities in order to improve 
healthcare delivered in the United States. Seeks opportunities to 
integrate various measurement efforts in order to provide a more 
complete picture of quality and safety. Promotes enhanced collaboration 
and coordination of measurement efforts, including integration where 
possible, in order to serve the needs of multiple stakeholders who use 
measurement, such as front-line clinicians, patients, safety and 
quality experts, administrators, researchers, payers, policymakers, and 
others. Conducts focused measurement programs including the National 
Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report, the Consumer Assessment of 
Healthcare Providers and Systems, Surveys on Patient Safety Culture 
programs, and the AHRQ Quality Indicators.
    Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends. Conducts and 
supports studies of the use of and expenditures for health care 
services, of the sources of payment for that care, of the availability 
and cost of health insurance, and of access to health care. Administers 
surveys and develops large data sets to support health care policy and 
behavioral research and analysis. The mission includes the production 
of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and the Healthcare Cost 
and Utilization Project (HCUP).
    Shall be organized into the following four divisions:
    Division of Statistical Research and Methods (DSRM): Responsible 
for a wide range of statistical activities (e.g., determining sample 
size and allocation, data imputation and weighting strategies) for the 
design and implementation of the three components (household, provider, 
and insurance/employer) of MEPS and for planning and conducting 
research to help guide and improve these activities.
    Division of Research and Modeling (DRM): Conducts studies of the 
access to and costs and financing of health care and is responsible for 
the conduct of research and the development of models and databases in 
support of the overall mission of AHRQ and CFACT. Provides ongoing 
analytic support to MEPS and HCUP design and implementation. Develops 
and maintains various simulation models, components, databases, tools, 
and research products that enhance the value of the AHRQ data. Utilizes 
these models and databases to conduct microsimulation analyses of the 
effects, on households and individuals, of health policies embodied in 
current law, and the potential effects of health care policies embodied 
in generic versions of proposed health care reforms.
    Division of Healthcare Data and Analytics (DHDA): Leads the 
development, production, and improvement of health care delivery data 
and tools for use in research and policy analysis with a focus on HCUP 
and the supply side of the medical care market. Directs, conducts, and 
supports research on health care delivery and utilization to examine 
issues related to

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access, utilization, cost, safety, and quality of hospital, physician, 
and other services. Disseminates data, tools, and statistics to 
facilitate and inform public and private health policy analysis, 
clinical studies, and socioeconomic research to inform public and 
private healthcare policy.
    Division of Survey Operations (DSO): Responsible for the MEPS data 
collection, processing and distribution activities. These 
responsibilities include directing data collection for the three major 
MEPS surveys, preparing data files for public use, conducting workshops 
on the appropriate use of MEPS data and the development of a website 
for disseminating MEPS products. Publishes statistical briefs, research 
findings and a series of methodological reports. Administers a data 
center at which researchers can, with approved projects and under 
specific technical controls and privacy protocols, access data that 
cannot be released to the public for use in specific research 
activities. Maintains liaisons with individuals and organizations 
engaged in health services research both within and outside the federal 
government.
    All delegations and redelegations of authority to officers and 
employees of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that were 
in effect immediately prior to the effective date of this 
reorganization shall continue in effect pending further redelegation 
provided they are consistent with this reorganization.
    These changes are effective upon date of signature.

    Dated: September 18, 2019.
Gopal Khanna,
Director.
[FR Doc. 2019-20218 Filed 9-18-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4160-90-P