[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 195 (Wednesday, October 13, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 56953]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-22166]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality


Request for Information: AHRQ's Role in Climate Change and 
Environmental Justice

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), HHS.

ACTION: Notice of request for information.

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SUMMARY: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is 
seeking information from the public on how the agency may have the 
greatest impact in addressing climate change through its core 
competencies of health systems research, practice improvement, and data 
& analytics. Specifically, AHRQ wants to learn how the agency can best 
use its resources to help build the healthcare system's resilience to 
climate threats, reduce the healthcare industry's contribution to 
climate change while increasing sustainability, and address 
environmental justice issues in healthcare.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by December 13, 2021. 
AHRQ will not respond individually to responders but will consider all 
comments submitted by the deadline.

ADDRESSES: Please submit all responses via email to 
[email protected] as a Word document or in the body of an 
email.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brent Sandmeyer, Social Science 
Analyst, Email: [email protected], Telephone: 301-427-1441.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Agency for Healthcare Research and 
Quality's mission is to produce evidence to make healthcare safer, 
higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and to work 
within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and with other 
partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used.
    In pursuit of that mission, AHRQ recognizes that climate change is 
a large and growing threat to public health and the ability of the U.S. 
healthcare system to provide high quality, equitable care. Climate 
change has contributed to heat waves, wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, 
flooding, and associated infrastructure failures. All of these have 
detrimental physical and behavioral health consequences and place 
increased demands on the healthcare system as it also struggles to 
respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both climate change and the COVID-19 
pandemic have highlighted and exacerbated long-standing racial, ethnic, 
and economic health disparities.
    AHRQ is seeking the public's input on how the agency may have the 
greatest impact in addressing climate change through its core 
competencies of health systems research, practice improvement, and data 
& analytics. Specifically, AHRQ wants to learn how the agency can best 
use its resources to help build the healthcare system's resilience to 
climate threats, reduce the healthcare industry's contribution to 
climate change while increasing sustainability, and address 
environmental justice issues in healthcare.
    AHRQ is requesting information from the public regarding the 
following broad questions:
    1. What should AHRQ's role be at the intersection of climate 
change, healthcare, and environmental justice to maximize the agency's 
impact?
    2. How can AHRQ incorporate climate change and environmental 
justice issues into its core competencies of healthcare systems 
research, practice improvement, and data & analytics?
    3. What are the most pressing healthcare-related areas of climate 
change and environmental justice research and actions that AHRQ could 
address? Relatedly, what evidence do healthcare systems and 
policymakers need to make decisions on responding to climate change?
    4. How can AHRQ help healthcare systems prepare for and respond to 
the impacts of climate change on patient care, especially for 
vulnerable populations?
    5. What role could AHRQ play in identifying, gathering, and 
disseminating data on climate-related risks and impacts, and making the 
information timely and easily available for researchers, healthcare 
systems, and policy makers?
    6. What practice improvement resources (e.g., tools, strategies) 
could AHRQ provide to help healthcare systems improve patient safety 
and system resiliency during climate-related emergencies?
    7. What are the training and education needs of healthcare 
professionals related to climate change and what role could AHRQ play 
in addressing those needs?
    8. What key research has been conducted to assess or mitigate the 
impact that healthcare has on climate change? What are effective 
strategies to measure and reduce the carbon footprint and other 
environmental impacts of the healthcare sector?
    9. What has been learned about health systems' capacity and 
limitations during the COVID-19 pandemic that can help care delivery 
organizations better address climate change impacts and reduce 
disparities?
    10. How might AHRQ take advantage of the existing national 
infrastructure to advance quality and safety (e.g., measurement 
standards, accrediting bodies, learning networks, incentives) to 
accelerate work on climate health and equity?
    11. Which organizations working on climate change response in 
healthcare should AHRQ learn from and collaborate with? Please describe 
the nature of the organization's work, evidence, and solutions, as 
applicable.
    AHRQ is interested in all of the questions listed above, but 
respondents are welcome to address as many or as few as they choose and 
to address additional areas of interest not listed.
    This RFI is for planning purposes only and should not be construed 
as a policy, solicitation for applications, or as an obligation on the 
part of the Government to provide support for any ideas identified in 
response to it. AHRQ will use the information submitted in response to 
this RFI at its discretion and will not provide comments to any 
responder's submission. However, responses to the RFI may be reflected 
in future solicitation(s) or policies. The information provided will be 
analyzed and may appear in reports. Respondents will not be identified 
in any published reports. Respondents are advised that the Government 
is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information 
received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any 
information submitted. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or 
sensitive information should be included in your response. The contents 
of all submissions will be made available to the public upon request. 
Materials submitted must be publicly available or can be made public.

    Dated: October 6, 2021.
Marquita Cullom,
Associate Director.
[FR Doc. 2021-22166 Filed 10-12-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-P