[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 170 (Tuesday, September 5, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60683-60684]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-19079]


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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 ``Use of Open-Ended Responses to Explore Disparities in Patient 
Experience.'' This proposed information collection was previously 
published in the Federal Register on June 27th, 2023, and allowed 60 
days for public comment. AHRQ received no 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 5, 2023.

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. 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

Use of Open-Ended Responses To Explore Disparities in Patient 
Experience

    The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) 
program, which is sponsored by AHRQ, has the purpose of advancing the 
scientific understanding of the patient experience of care, including 
the development and testing of new surveys and/or approaches to data 
collection to promote or improve the collection of consumer reports and 
evaluations of their experiences with health care.
    This Project has the following goals:
    (1) Use open-ended (narrative) responses to provide context, 
detail, and understanding regarding observed differences in patient 
experience based on race, ethnicity, gender, and preferred language.
    (2) Use Clinician and Group-CAHPS Narrative Item Set (NIS)-
generated narrative data to examine potential algorithmic bias in 
natural language programs (NLP) that could potentially be used to code 
large quantities of narrative data.
    (3) Where algorithmic bias is uncovered, use this analysis to 
identify adjustments that can be applied to both the input for these 
programs or the outputs.
    This project is being conducted by AHRQ through its contractor, the 
RAND Corporation, 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 quality measurement and improvement. 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(1) 
and (2).

Method of Collection

    To achieve the goals of this project the following data collections 
will be implemented:
    Online survey: Data will be collected from a sample of 4,998 survey

[[Page 60684]]

respondents drawn from the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, a large nationwide 
online panel of American adults (over 50,000 panelists) with 
demographic characteristics consistent with the adult U.S. population. 
Equal-sized subsamples will be drawn for each of the following groups: 
non-Hispanic Asian American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; 
non-Hispanic Black; Spanish-speaking Hispanic; English-speaking 
Hispanic; non-Hispanic Multiracial; and non-Hispanic White. Within 
these six subsamples, we will strive to recruit a roughly equal split 
of men and women. The survey will be fielded in English and Spanish 
based on respondent-preferred language.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annualized burden hours for survey 
respondents' time to participate in this data collection. All 
participants will complete the Online Survey, which is estimated to 
take 17 minutes per response. The total annual burden hours are 
estimated to be 1,416 hours.
    Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annualized cost burden associated 
with the respondents' time to participate in this data collection. The 
cost burden is estimated to be $39,662.

                                  Exhibit 1--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of
                    Form name                        Number of     responses per     Hours per     Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online Survey...................................           4,998               1             .28           1,416
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................           4,998              na              na           1,416
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


                                  Exhibit 1--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Number of     Total burden   Average hourly    Total cost
                    Form name                       respondents        hours        wage rate *       burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online Survey...................................           4,998           1,416      \a\ $28.01         $39,662
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................           4,998           1,416              Na          39,662
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* The May 2017 National Employment and Wage Estimates reported by the Bureau of Labor statistics indicate an
  average hourly wage of $28.01 across the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The national average has
  been used to estimate the wages of survey respondents. The Knowledge Panel consists of a broad cross-section
  of the U.S. adult population, and thus a national average should be a reasonable estimate of the wages of
  survey respondents. National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United States May 2021, ``U.S.
  Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.''
\a\ Based on the mean wages for all occupations, code 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: August 30, 2023.
Marquita Cullom,
Associate Director.
[FR Doc. 2023-19079 Filed 9-1-23; 8:45 am]
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