[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 131 (Monday, July 11, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41126-41127]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-14637]


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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, 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 proposed information collection 
project ``Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) COVID-19 Changes.''

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by September 9, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz, 
Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, by email at 
[email protected].
    Copies of the proposed collection plans, data collection 
instruments, and specific details on the estimated burden can be 
obtained from the AHRQ Reports Clearance Officer.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposed Project

``Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) COVID-19 Changes''

    The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) consists of the 
following three components and has been conducted annually since 1996:
     Household Component (MEPS-HC): A sample of households 
participating in the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) in the 
prior calendar year are interviewed 5 times over a 2 and one-half (2.5) 
year period. These 5 interviews yield 2 years of information on use of, 
and expenditures for, health care, sources of payment for that health 
care, insurance status, employment, health status and health care 
quality.
     Medical Provider Component (MEPS-MPC): The MEPS-MPC 
collects information from medical and financial records maintained by 
hospitals, physicians, pharmacies and home health agencies named as 
sources of care by household respondents.
     Insurance Component (MEPS-IC): The MEPS-IC collects 
information on establishment characteristics, insurance offerings and 
premiums from

[[Page 41127]]

employers. The MEPS-IC is conducted by the Census Bureau for AHRQ and 
is cleared separately.
    This request is for the MEPS-HC only. The OMB Control Number for 
the MEPS-HC and MEPS-MPC is 0935-0118, which was last approved by OMB 
on November 18, 2020, and will expire on November 30, 2023.
    The purpose of this request is to update questions related to 
COVID-19 in MEPS. New round 1 questions on COVID-19 capture information 
on whether household members have ever had COVID-19 and when they most 
recently had COVID-19. Follow-up questions in later rounds determine if 
household members have had COVID-19 in the interview reference period.
    This study is being conducted by AHRQ through its contractors, 
Westat and RTI International, pursuant to AHRQ's statutory authority to 
conduct and support research on healthcare and on systems for the 
delivery of such care, including activities with respect to the cost 
and use of health care services and with respect to health statistics 
and surveys. 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(3) and (8); 42 U.S.C. 299b-2.

Method of Collection

    The questions will be asked of all MEPS sample members with a 
single household respondent reporting for the household. The first two 
questions serve as gate questions and only respondents who report 
having a COVID-19 diagnosis in the relevant time period will receive 
follow-up questions about the timing of their most recent infection. 
These questions will be administered in the existing Priority 
Conditions Enumeration section of MEPS, which includes a similar series 
of questions about whether household members have ever been diagnosed 
with certain medical conditions.
    Historically, MEPS has been conducted using Computer Assisted 
Personal Interviewing (CAPI) where field interviews conduct interviews 
with household respondents in person. However, MEPS is currently being 
conducted via multiple modes, including face-to-face, phone, and 
virtual interviewing, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
    The information collected on COVID-19 diagnoses will undergo 
editing and be reviewed for data quality, including consistency with 
publicly available sources of data on COVID-19 infections. 
Additionally, the resulting variables will be included on the annual 
MEPS full-year consolidated public use data files after being assessed 
for any potential disclosure concerns.
    The new CAPI questions collecting information about COVID-19 will 
be folded into the regular processing stream of MEPS data to produce 
estimates of health care utilization and expenditures. The information 
collected on COVID-19 diagnoses will be used to compare healthcare 
utilization and expenditures between those who have had confirmed 
COVID-19 and those who have not. Additionally, the information 
collected on the timing of recent infections can be used to either 
include or exclude recent infections from calendar year or round-
specific estimates of healthcare utilization and expenditures. This 
allows researchers to examine both shorter-term and longer-term impacts 
of a COVID-19 diagnosis on healthcare utilization and expenditures.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annualized burden hours for 
respondents' time to participate in this research. The addition of 
several questions related to COVID-19 adds minimal burden in hours and 
costs to the core CAPI interview, estimated to add 1 minute per 
interview and a total of 222 burden hours.
    Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annualized cost burden associated 
with respondents' time to participate in this research. The total cost 
burden is estimated to be $6,218 annually.

                                  Exhibit 1--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                  Number of
                  Activity                      Number of       responses per      Hours per       Total burden
                                               respondents       respondent         response          hours
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COVID-19 questions included in the MEPS            13,338 *                 1             1/60              222
 questionnaire.............................
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* While the expected number of responding units for the annual estimates is 12,804, it is necessary to adjust
  for survey attrition of initial respondents by a factor of 0.96 (13.338 = 12/804/0.96).


                                   Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
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                                                Number of       Total burden    Average  hourly     Total cost
                  Activity                     respondents          hours          wage rate *        burden
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COVID-19 questions included in the MEPS              13,338               222           $28.01           $6,218
 questionnaire.............................
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* Based upon mean hourly wage, ``May 2021 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates United States,''
  U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, retrieved at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#00-0000.

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: July 5, 2022.
Mamatha Pancholi,
Acting Chief of Staff, Chief Data Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-14637 Filed 7-8-22; 8:45 am]
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