[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 180 (Tuesday, September 21, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52471-52473]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-20418]


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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 (AHRQ), 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 renewal of the information 
collection project ``Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture 
Database.'' This proposed information collection was previously 
published in the Federal Register on June 23rd, 2021 and allowed 60 
days for public comment. AHRQ did not receive 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 October 21, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ Reports 
Clearance Officer, (301) 427-1477, or by email at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposed Project

Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture Database

    In 1999, the Institute of Medicine called for health care 
organizations to develop a ``culture of safety'' such that their 
workforce and processes focus on improving the reliability and safety 
of care for patients (IOM, 1999; To Err is Human: Building a Safer 
Health System). To respond to the need for tools to assess patient 
safety culture in health care, AHRQ developed and pilot tested the 
Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture with OMB approval (OMB 
NO. 0935-0132; Approved July 5, 2007).
    The survey is designed to enable nursing homes to assess provider 
and staff perspectives about patient safety issues, medical error, and 
error reporting and includes 42 items that measure 12 composites of 
patient safety culture. AHRQ made the survey publicly available along 
with a Survey User's Guide and other toolkit materials in November 2008 
on the AHRQ website.
    The AHRQ Nursing Home SOPS Database consists of data from the AHRQ 
Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture. Nursing homes in the 
U.S. can voluntarily submit data from the survey to AHRQ through its 
contractor, Westat. The Nursing Home SOPS Database (OMB NO. 0935-0195, 
last approved on November 5, 2018) was developed by AHRQ in 2011 in 
response to requests from nursing

[[Page 52472]]

homes interested in viewing their organizations' patient safety culture 
survey results. Those organizations submitting data receive a feedback 
report, as well as a report on the aggregated de-identified findings of 
the other nursing homes submitting data. These reports are used to 
assist nursing home staff in their efforts to improve patient safety 
culture in their organizations.
    Rationale for the information collection. The Nursing Home SOPS and 
Nursing Home SOPS Database support AHRQ's goals of promoting 
improvements in the quality and safety of health care in nursing home 
settings. The survey, toolkit materials, and database results are all 
made publicly available on AHRQ's website. Technical assistance is 
provided by AHRQ through its contractor at no charge to nursing homes, 
to facilitate the use of these materials for nursing home patient 
safety and quality improvement.
    This database:
    (1) Presents results from nursing homes that voluntarily submit 
their data,
    (2) Provides data to nursing homes to facilitate internal 
assessment and learning in the patient safety improvement process, and
    (3) Provides supplemental information to help nursing homes 
identify their strengths and areas with potential for improvement in 
patient safety culture.
    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 and with 
respect to surveys and database development. 42 U.S.C 299a(a)(1) and 
(8).

Method of Collection

    To achieve the goal of this project the following activities and 
data collections will be implemented:
    (1) Eligibility and Registration Form--The nursing home (or parent 
organization) point-of-contact (POC) completes a number of data 
submission steps and forms, beginning with the completion of an online 
Eligibility and Registration Form. The purpose of this form is to 
collect basic demographic information about the nursing home and 
initiate the registration process.
    (2) Data Use Agreement--The purpose of the data use agreement, 
completed by the nursing home POC, is to state how data submitted by 
nursing homes will be used and provides privacy assurances.
    (3) Nursing Home Site Information Form--The purpose of the site 
information form, completed by the nursing home POC, is to collect 
background characteristics of the nursing home. This information will 
be used to analyze data collected with the Nursing Home SOPS survey.
    (4) Data File(s) Submission--POCs upload their data file(s) using 
the data file specifications, to ensure that users submit standardized 
and consistent data in the way variables are named, coded and 
formatted. The number of submissions to the database is likely to vary 
each year because nursing homes do not administer the survey and submit 
data every year. Data submission is typically handled by one POC who is 
either a corporate level health care manager for a Quality Improvement 
Organization (QIO), a survey vendor who contracts with a nursing home 
to collect their data, or a nursing home Director of Nursing or nurse 
manager. POCs submit data on behalf of 3 nursing homes, on average, 
because many nursing homes are part of a QIO or larger nursing home or 
health system that includes many nursing home sites, or the POC is a 
vendor that is submitting data for multiple nursing homes.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annualized burden hours for the 
respondents' time to participate in the database. An estimated 40 POCs, 
each representing an average of 3 individual nursing homes each, will 
complete the database submission steps and forms. Each POC will submit 
the following:
     Eligibility and registration form (completion is estimated 
to take about 3 minutes).
     Data Use Agreement (completion is estimated to take about 
3 minutes).
     Nursing Home Site Information Form (completion is 
estimated to take about 5 minutes).
     Survey data submission will take an average of one hour.
    The total annual burden hours are estimated to be 54 hours.
    Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annualized cost burden based on the 
respondents' time to submit their data. The cost burden is estimated to 
be $2,509 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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Eligibility/Registration Form...................              40               1            3/60               2
Data Use Agreement..............................              40               1            3/60               2
Nursing Home Site Information Form..............              40               3            5/60              10
Data Files Submission...........................              40               1               1              40
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................              NA              NA              NA              54
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                                   Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
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                                                     Number of
                    Form name                      respondents/    Total burden   Average hourly    Total cost
                                                       POCs            hours        wage rate *       burden
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Eligibility/Registration Forms..................              40               2          $46.45             $93
Data Use Agreement..............................              40               2           46.45              93
Nursing Home Site Information Form..............              40              10           46.45             465
Data Files Submission...........................              40              40           46.45           1,858
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 52473]]

 
    Total.......................................              NA              54              NA           2,509
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* The wage rate in Exhibit 2 is based on May 2019 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage
  Estimates, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Labor. Mean hourly wages for nursing home POCs are
  located at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_623000.htm. The hourly wage of $46.45 is the weighted mean
  of $47.32 (General and Operations Managers 11-1021; N=26) and $44.82 (Medical and Health Services Managers 11-
  9111; N=14).

Request for Comments

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501-
3520, 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.

    Dated: September 16, 2021.
Marquita Cullom,
Associate Director.
[FR Doc. 2021-20418 Filed 9-20-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-P