[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 192 (Wednesday, October 5, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60402-60403]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-21624]


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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.'' 
This proposed information collection was previously published in the 
Federal Register on July 11, 2022 and allowed 60 days for public 
comment. AHRQ received one comment from The Bureau of Economic Analysis 
(BEA) in strong support of the questions for this proposed data 
collection. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 
days for public comment.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by November 4, 2022.

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

``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 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

[[Page 60403]]

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: September 29, 2022.
Marquita Cullom,
Associate Director.
[FR Doc. 2022-21624 Filed 10-4-22; 8:45 am]
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