[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 154 (Friday, August 9, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65350-65351]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-17737]


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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 extension without change of the 
information collection project ``Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety 
Culture Database,'' OMB No. 0935-0195.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by October 8, 2024.

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

Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture Database

    In 1999, the Institute of Medicine called for healthcare 
organizations to develop a safer health system. To respond to the need 
for tools to assess patient safety culture in healthcare, AHRQ 
developed and pilot tested the Surveys on Patient Safety 
Culture[supreg] (SOPS[supreg]) Nursing Home Survey with OMB approval 
(OMB No. 0935-0132). The survey is designed to enable nursing homes to 
assess provider and staff perspectives about patient safety issues, 
medical error, and error reporting. AHRQ made the survey publicly 
available along with a Survey User's Guide and other toolkit materials 
in November 2008 on the AHRQ website.
    The AHRQ SOPS Nursing Home Database consists of data from the AHRQ 
Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture and may include 
reportable, non-required supplemental items. Nursing homes in the U.S. 
can voluntarily submit data from the survey to AHRQ through its 
contractor, Westat. The SOPS Nursing Home Database was developed by 
AHRQ in 2011 in response to requests from nursing homes interested in 
viewing their organizations' patient safety culture survey results. 
Organizations submitting data receive a feedback report, as well as a 
report on the aggregated, de-identified findings of the other nursing 
homes submitting data. These reports are used to assist nursing home 
staff in their efforts to improve patient safety culture in their 
organizations.
    Rationale for the information collection. The SOPS Nursing Home 
Survey and SOPS Nursing Home Database support AHRQ's goals of promoting 
improvements in the quality and safety of healthcare in nursing home 
settings. The survey, toolkit materials, and database results are all 
made publicly available on AHRQ's website. Technical assistance is 
provided by AHRQ through its contractor at no charge to nursing homes, 
to facilitate the use of these materials for nursing home patient 
safety and quality improvement.
    This research has the following goals:
     Present results from nursing homes that voluntarily submit 
their data,
     Provide data to nursing homes to facilitate internal 
assessment and learning in the patient safety improvement process, and
     Provide supplemental information to help nursing homes 
identify their strengths and areas with potential for improvement in 
patient safety culture.
    This study is being conducted by AHRQ through its contractor, 
Westat, 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; quality 
measurement and improvement; and database development. 42 U.S.C 
299a(a)(1), (2), and (8).

Method of Collection

    To achieve the goal of this project the following activities and 
data collections will be implemented:
    (1) Eligibility and Registration Form--The nursing home (or parent 
organization) point-of-contact (POC) completes a number of data 
submission steps and forms, beginning with the completion of an online 
Eligibility and Registration Form. The purpose of this form is to 
collect basic demographic information about the nursing home and 
initiate the registration process.
    (2) Nursing Home Site Information--The purpose of the site 
information form, completed by the nursing home POC, is to collect 
background characteristics of the nursing home. This information will 
be used to analyze data collected with the SOPS Nursing Home Survey.
    (3) Data Use Agreement--The purpose of the data use agreement, 
completed by the nursing home POC, is to state how data submitted by 
nursing homes will be used and provides confidentiality assurances.
    (4) Data File(s) Submission--POCs upload their data file(s) using 
the data file specifications, to ensure that users submit their data in 
a standardized way (e.g., variable names, order, coding, formatting). 
The number of submissions to the database is likely to vary from 
submission period to submission period because nursing homes do not 
administer the survey and submit data every database year. Data 
submission is typically handled by one POC who is either a corporate 
level healthcare manager for a Quality Improvement Organization (QIO), 
a survey vendor who contracts with a nursing home to collect their 
data, or a nursing home Director of Nursing or nurse manager. POCs 
submit data on behalf of 1 nursing home, on average, because many 
nursing homes are part of a QIO or larger nursing home or health system 
that includes many nursing home sites, or the POC is a vendor that is 
submitting data for multiple nursing homes.

[[Page 65351]]

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annualized burden hours for the 
respondents' time to participate in the database. An estimated 50 POCs, 
each representing an average of 1 individual nursing home each, will 
complete the database submission steps and forms. Each POC will submit 
the following:
    1. Eligibility and registration form (completion is estimated to 
take about 3 minutes).
    2. Data Use Agreement (completion is estimated to take about 3 
minutes).
    3. Nursing Home Site Information Form (completion is estimated to 
take about 5 minutes).
    4. Survey data submission will take an average of one hour.
    The total annual burden hours are estimated to be 61 hours.
    Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annualized cost burden based on the 
respondents' time to submit their data. The cost burden is estimated to 
be $3,853 annually.

                                  Exhibit 1--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                     Number of       Number of
                    Form name                      respondents/    responses per     Hours per     Total burden
                                                       POCs             POC          response          hours
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1. Eligibility/Registration Form................              50               1            3/60               3
2. Data Use Agreement...........................              50               1            3/60               3
3. Nursing Home Site Information Form...........              50               1            5/60               5
4. Data Files Submission........................              50               1               1              50
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................              NA              NA              NA              61
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                                   Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
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                                                                   Total burden   Average hourly    Total cost
                            Form name                                  hours        wage rate *       burden
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1. Eligibility/Registration Forms...............................               3          $64.64            $194
2. Data Use Agreement...........................................               3           64.64             194
3. Nursing Home Site Information Form...........................               5           64.64             233
4. Data Files Submission........................................              50           64.64           3,232
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................................              61              NA           3,853
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* Mean hourly wage rate of $64.64 for Medical and Health Services Managers (SOC code 11-9111) was obtained from
  the May 2023 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, NAICS 623000--Nursing and
  Residential Care Facilities located at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_623000.htm.

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.

Mamatha Pancholi,
Deputy Director.
[FR Doc. 2024-17737 Filed 8-8-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-P