[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