[Federal Register: February 24, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 37)]
[Notices]
[Page 9556-9558]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24fe06-82]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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) allow the proposed information collection
project: ``Use of IT and Health IT Among Health Centers funded under
Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act''. In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(2)(A)), AHRQ invites the public to comment on this proposed
information collection.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by April 25, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: Cynthia D.
McMichael, Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, 540 Gaither Road, Suite
5022, Rockville, MD 20850. Copies of the proposed collection plan, data
collection instrument, and specific details on the estimated burden can
be obtained from AHRQ's Reports Clearance Officer.
[[Page 9557]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cynthia D. McMichael, AHRQ, Reports
Clearance Officer, (301) 427-1651.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Proposed Project
``Use of IT and Health IT Among Health Centers funded under Section 330
of the Public Health Service Act.''
This project is being conducted under contact 290-04-0016 between
the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research and the National Opinion
Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, the prime
contractor for AHRQ's National Resource Center for Health Information
Technology. AHRQ, in close collaboration with the Health Resources and
Services Administration's (HRSA) Bureau of Primary Health care (BPHC),
is requesting that NORC conduct an assessment of the use of information
technology (IT) at ambulatory health centers funded under Section 330
of the Public Health Services Act. Specifically, the project will
assess IT applications which assist in improving the quality, safety,
efficiency, and effectiveness of health care (health IT) at HRSA-funded
ambulatory health centers.
For the purposes of this project, AHRQ and HRSA have drafted an
Intra-Agency Agreement (AHRQ IAA 05-404R-05) which establishes
roles and responsibilities for both agencies. HRSA, AHRQ and NORC will
work collaboratively to develop the analytic questions, survey tool,
sampling strategy and analysis plan. AHRQ and HRSA will review data
runs as well as descriptive and comparative analysis. NORC will field
the survey, conduct descriptive and comparative analysis, and report
findings to both AHRQ and HRSA.
The HRSA-funded health centers from a key part of the nation's
health care ``safety net,'' delivering primary car medical services to
vulnerable populations. Special administrative requirements, including
tracking and reporting on their patient populations, maintaining
patient-specific data and supporting disease registries for vulnerable
populations, make health centers a prime target for implementing health
IT applications. As such, health centers represent and early laboratory
for health IT adoption, use, and impact among ambulatory health care
providers.
The study will inquire about the gains and challenges experienced
at selected health centers in the implementation of IT programs.
Information will be collected with regard to the following topics and
issues: current state of Health Information Technology (HIT) use, goals
and approach to HIT, readiness for HIT adoption and expansion,
management of HIT issues and adherence to requirements, and overall
experience with HIT implementation of sustainability, including
successes experienced and barriers encountered.
Findings from the proposed collection will assist policy makers at
AHRQ, HRSA and elsewhere as they seek to build on this early IT
adoption among health centers and promote policy efforts to encourage
the implementation of IT in ambulatory health care settings to achieve
efficiency and quality of care objectives.
Date Confidentiality
To obtain the necessary information, surveys will be conducted with
staff at selected HRSA-funded health centers. The study will primarily
involve the use of web-based interviews, although some telephone
interviews will be conducted when selected health centers do not
respond online. All appropriate measures will be taken to protect the
confidentiality of individual respondents and their institution. Web
surveys are administered using an encrypted SSL connection using
secured web data collection servers. Access to response data will be
limited on a strictly ``need to access'' basis and any person accessing
the data will have signed a corporate confidentially pledge which
clearly enumerates their responsibilities in this regard including
AHRQ's statutory confidentiality requirements and specific consequences
of improper disclosures or allowing breaches in confidentiality.
Methods of Collection
The data will be collected from a systematic random sample of 450
of the approximately 920 total HRSA Section 330-funded Health Centers.
Centers will be chosen stratified by urbanicity (urban, rural and
suburban) and geographical area. The expected response rate of 75
percent will result in data from approximately 338 centers.
One survey will be completed by each organization. Multiple
individuals from each Health Center may be respondents, including
senior management and administrative personnel, information technology
staff, and clinicians.
Based on experience with surveys of similar length, the estimate is
that the questionnaire will take one hour to complete. The primary
method of data collection will be web-based self-administered
questionnaire. All sample centers will receive an advance e-mail
followed a week later by an e-mail containing instructions for
accessing the Web survey. We will use a multiple mode approach to
follow-up with centers that do not complete the survey within 4 weeks
of the initial e-mailing.
Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated total Estimated
Number of Estimated time burden to Average hourly annual cost to
Data collection effort respondents per respondent respondents wage rate health center
(minutes) (hours) respondent
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online and Telephone Surveys *..................................... 338 60 338 $42.38 $14,324.44
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Using the mean of the average wages for managers in medicine, physicians and computer systems analyst/scientist as reported in the National
Compensation Survey: Occupational Wages in the United States, 2004, (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2004), we
estimate the total hourly cost to respondents to be $42.38 or $14,324.44 across all 338 health center respondents.
Request for Comments
In accordance with the above cited legislation, 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 functions of AHRQ, including
whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the accuracy
of AHRQ's estimate of burden (including hours and cost) of the proposed
collection 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 request for OMB approval of the proposed
information
[[Page 9558]]
collection. All comments will become a matter of public record.
Dated: February 16, 2006.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
Director.
[FR Doc. 06-1716 Filed 2-23-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-M