[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 107 (Friday, June 3, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33797-33798]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-11888]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

[Document Identifier: OS-0955-0019]


Agency Information Collection Request; 60-Day Public Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirement of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Office of the Secretary (OS), Department of Health and 
Human Services, is publishing the following summary of a proposed 
collection for public comment.

DATES: Comments on the ICR must be received on or before August 2, 
2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments to [email protected] or by calling 
(202) 795-7714.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: When submitting comments or requesting 
information, please include the document identifier 0990-New-60D and 
project title for reference, to Sherrette A. Funn, email: 
[email protected], or call (202) 795-7714 the Reports Clearance 
Officer.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Interested persons are invited to send 
comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this 
collection of information, including any of the following subjects: (1) 
The necessity and utility of the proposed information collection for 
the proper performance of the agency's functions; (2) the accuracy of 
the estimated burden; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology to minimize the information collection burden.
    Title of the Collection: National Survey of Health Information 
Exchange Organizations (HIO).
    Type of Collection: Reinstatement with Change.
    OMB No.: 0955-0019.
    Abstract: Electronic health information exchange (HIE) was one of 
three goals specified by Congress in the 2009 Health Information 
Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act to ensure that 
the $30 billion federal investment in certified electronic health 
records (CEHRTs) resulted in higher-quality, lower-cost care. In 
subsequent rulemaking and regulations, ensuring that providers can 
share data electronically across EHRs and other health information 
systems has been a top priority.
    Beginning prior to HITECH, there has been substantial ongoing 
assessment of trends in the capabilities of health information 
organizations to support clinical exchange. These surveys have 
collected data on organizational structure, financial viability, 
geographic coverage, scope of services, scope of participants, 
perceptions of information blocking, and participation in national 
networks and TEFCA. While past surveys assessed HIOs' capacity to 
support HIE in a variety of ways, they did not closely examine how HIOs 
support public health exchange. Each of these areas of data collection 
will be useful to constructing a current and more comprehensive picture 
of HIOs' role in addressing public health emergencies.
    Given the evolving nature of the pandemic, assessing HIOs' current 
capabilities is critical as there are ongoing needs to share varied 
types of information that HIOs may be supporting. The survey will 
collect data from HIOs across the nation. These organizations 
facilitate electronic exchange of health information across disparate 
providers, labs, pharmacies, public health departments, and beyond. 
Little information exists on how HIOs can address information gaps 
related to public health. Thus, a first step to addressing these gaps, 
we need to better characterize existing capabilities of HIOs. The 
success of managing the current pandemic, and future public health 
emergencies, relies on the ability to efficiently share key data 
regarding health system capacity, contact tracing, testing, detecting 
new outbreaks, vaccine updates, and patient demographics to help 
address disparities in our response efforts.
    In addition to measuring the capabilities to support public health, 
it is also necessary to understand the broader picture of HIO 
capabilities to support electronic health information exchange, their 
maturity and challenges they face. There are four key areas that 
require this broader assessment: (1) Adoption of technical standards; 
(2) perceptions related to information blocking; (3) HIE coordination 
at the federal level; and (4) organizational demographics, including 
technical capabilities offered by HIOs and the challenges they face in 
supporting electronic health information exchange.
    The ultimate goal of our project is to administer a survey 
instrument to HIOs in order to generate the most current national 
statistics and associated actionable insights to inform policy efforts. 
The timely collection of national data from our survey will assess 
current capabilities to support effective electronic information 
sharing within our healthcare system related to COVID-19 and other 
public health relevant data.
    This is a 3-year request for OMB approval.
    Likely respondents: U.S. based public and private HIOs.

[[Page 33798]]



                                          Annualized Burden Hour Table
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                                                                     Number of
     Forms (if necessary)        Respondents (if     Number of     responses per  Average burden   Total burden
                                   necessary)       respondents     respondents    per response        hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HIO Survey....................  Health                       105               1           45/60              79
                                 Information
                                 Organizations.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............              79
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Sherrette A. Funn,
Paperwork Reduction Act Reports Clearance Officer, Office of the 
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-11888 Filed 6-2-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-45-P