[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 224 (Thursday, November 19, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73673-73674]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-25580]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Management and Organizational Practices Survey--Hospitals 
(MOPS-HP)

AGENCY: Census Bureau, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information 
collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information 
collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The 
purpose of this notice is to allow for an additional 60 days of public 
comment on a proposed new information collection, the Management and 
Organizational Practices Survey--Hospitals (MOPS-HP). An information 
collection request (ICR) for the MOPS-HP was submitted to OMB for 
approval on July 7, 2020 and is currently pending OMB review.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed 
information collection must be received on or before January 19, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by 
email to [email protected]. Please reference Management and 
Organizational Practices Survey--Hospitals (MOPS-HP) in the subject 
line of your comments. You may also submit comments, identified by 
Docket Number USBC-2020-0029, to the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: 
http://www.regulations.gov. All comments received are part of the 
public record. No comments will be posted to http://www.regulations.gov 
for public viewing until after the comment period has closed. Comments 
will generally be posted without change. All Personally Identifiable 
Information (for example, name and address) voluntarily submitted by 
the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential 
Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information. 
You may submit attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, 
Excel, or Adobe PDF file formats.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed 
to Edward Watkins at [email protected] or 301-763-4750.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The U.S. Census Bureau plans to conduct the Management and 
Organizational Practices Survey-Hospitals (MOPS-HP) for survey year 
2020 as a joint project with Harvard Business School. The MOPS-HP will 
utilize a subset of the Service Annual Survey mail-out sample and will 
collect data on management practices from Chief Nursing Officers (CNOs) 
at general medical and surgical hospitals to assist in studying their 
relationship to clinical and financial performance.
    A notice seeking public comment on our plans to conduct this survey 
was previously published in the Federal Register on February 12, 2020, 
on pages 4623-4624. That notice proposed collecting data for survey 
years 2019 and 2014, but collection has been adjusted due to the 
ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has further highlighted the 
relevance of hospital management practices, especially as they relate 
to hospitals' abilities to respond to shocks to their organization and 
the health care system. In light of this, the Census Bureau has 
modified the survey proposal to collect data for reference years 2020 
and 2019. This change seeks to directly measure management practices 
and protocols before and during the pandemic to obtain a better 
understanding of how hospitals have had to adjust and pivot operations 
during this public health emergency.
    The Census Bureau also plans to include two additional questions in 
the MOPS-HP content to help improve measurement of hospital 
preparedness. These questions will provide information on two elements 
of responsiveness, hospitals' coordinated deployment of frontline 
clinical workers and hospitals' ability to quickly respond to needed 
changes in standardized clinical protocols. In an effort to limit 
respondent burden while adding this content, adjustments were made to 
keep the total number of questions and estimated burden per response 
unchanged. The project plan, schedule, and collection strategy are 
being actively monitored, and adjustments will be made as necessary, as 
the Census Bureau is cognizant and respectful of the time, resources, 
and burden placed on CNOs during the pandemic.
    After the close of this second comment period, the Census Bureau 
will submit these planned changes as an amendment to the ICR, which is 
currently pending review at OMB. Any comments received by the close of 
the comment period will be summarized and included in the amendment.
    Currently, no official statistics on management practices in 
hospitals exist. Past research shows these practices are related to 
health care providers' clinical and financial outcomes. This suggests 
that providing measures on management practices may potentially help 
the United States health care system, which is challenged by rising 
health care costs, increased demand from an aging society, and quality 
objectives. These data would permit users to examine relationships 
between management practices and financial outcomes using Census Bureau 
data (e.g., revenues) and relationships with clinical outcomes using 
external data sources. Additionally, these data would provide hospital 
administrators and managers information to evaluate their practices in 
comparison to other hospitals at an aggregate level.
    The MOPS-HP content was proposed by external researchers with past 
experience in surveying hospitals on management practices. Some 
questions are adapted from the Management and Organizational Practices 
Survey (MOPS), conducted in the manufacturing sector, allowing for 
inter-sectoral comparisons. Content for the MOPS-HP includes 
performance monitoring, financial and clinical targets, and incentives. 
The 39 questions are grouped into the following sections: Tenure, 
Management Practices, Management Training, Management of Team 
Interactions, Staffing and Allocation of Human Resources, Standardized 
Clinical Protocols, Documentation of Patients' Medical Records, and 
Organizational Characteristics.

[[Page 73674]]

II. Method of Collection

    The MOPS-HP sample will consist of approximately 3,200 hospital 
locations for enterprises classified under General Medical and Surgical 
Hospitals (NAICS 6221) and sampled in the Service Annual Survey (SAS). 
The survey will be mailed separately from the 2020 SAS and collected 
electronically through the Census Bureau's Centurion online reporting 
system. Respondents will be sent an initial letter with instructions 
detailing how to log into the instrument and report their information. 
These letters will be addressed to the location's CNO. In instances 
where the CNO is not identifiable, the letter will be addressed to the 
hospital's administrative office with attention to the CNO. Collection 
is scheduled to begin in the initial months of 2021.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0607-XXXX.
    Form Number(s): MP-2000.
    Type of Review: Regular submission, New Information Collection 
Request.
    Affected Public: General medical and surgical hospitals.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: Approximately 3,200.
    Estimated Time per Response: 45 minutes.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,400.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0. (This is not the cost of 
respondents' time, but the indirect costs respondents may incur for 
such things as purchases of specialized software or hardware needed to 
report, or expenditures for accounting or records maintenance services 
required specifically by the collection.)
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Sections 131 and 182.

IV. Request for Comments

    We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau 
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is 
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether 
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy 
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed 
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden 
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. We will include, or summarize, each comment in our 
request to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, 
phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information 
in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--
including your personal identifying information--may be made publicly 
available at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold 
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2020-25580 Filed 11-18-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P