[Federal Register: December 6, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 234)]
[Notices]
[Page 70777-70778]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr06de06-75]
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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, Department of
Health and Human Services.
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) allow the proposed information collection
project: ``Pilot Study of Proposed Medical Office Surveys on Patient
Safety.'' 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 February 5, 2007.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz,
Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, 540 Gaither Road, Room 5036,
Rockville, MD 20850. Copies of the proposed collection plans, data
collection instruments, and specific details on the estimated burden
can be obtained from AHRQ's Reports Clearance Officer.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ, Reports
Clearance Officer, (301) 427-1477.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 70778]]
Proposed Project
Pilot Study of Proposed Medical Office Surveys on Patient Safety
This activity is an expansion and refinement of AHRQ's Hospital
Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) which was developed and
released to the public for use in November 2004. Two new surveys are
proposed to assess patient safety culture in outpatient medical office
settings: One for clinicians (physicians, physician assistants, and
nurse practitioners who diagnose, prescribe for, and treat patients)
and one for medical office staff (all other non-clinician staff). The
proposed new surveys will be based on the HSOPSC but also contain new
and revised items as well as dimensions that are more applicable to the
outpatient medical office setting. The two proposed surveys will
contain some items that are the same and some item that are unique to
each survey.
The instruments will be pilot tested with clinicians and staff
working in 97 outpatient medical offices. The data collected will be
analyzed to determine the psychometric properties of each survey's
items and dimensions and provide information for the revision and
shortening of the final surveys based on an assessment of their
reliability and construct validity. The final surveys will be made
publicly available to enable outpatient medical offices to assess
patient safety culture from the perspectives of their clinicians and
staff. The surveys can be used by outpatient medical offices to
identify areas for patient safety culture improvement.
Methods of Collection
A purposive sample of 97 outpatient medical offices will be
recruited and selected. These medical offices will represent a
distribution of single-specialty offices (of various types) and multi-
specialty offices, and will vary by office size (based on number of
physicians in the office), as well as geographic region of the United
States. Recruited medical offices will be allocated to each category in
numbers roughly proportionate to the national distribution of offices
in each category.
All clinicians in each medical office will be asked to respond to
the clinician survey and all other non-clinician staff will be asked to
complete the medical office staff survey. Since not all medical office
staff have access to email or the internet, paper surveys will be
administered. Standard non-response follow-up techniques such as
reminder postcards and distribution of a second survey will be used.
Individuals and organizations contacted will be assured of the
confidentiality of their replies under Section 924(c) of the Healthcare
Research and Quality Act of 1999.
Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
Paper surveys will be distributed to a total of approximately 2,340
individuals from 97 medical offices (about 592 clinicians and 1,748
medical office staff), with a target response rate of 70%, or 1,638
completed surveys (414 completed clinician surveys and 1,224 medical
office staff surveys). Respondents should take approximately 15 minutes
to complete either survey. Therefore, we estimate that the total
respondent burden for completing the survey will be 410 hours (414
completed clinician surveys multiplied by 0.25 hours per survey or 104
hours; and 1,224 completed medical office staff surveys multiplied by
0.25 hours per survey or 306 hours).
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Estimated
Number of Number of Estimated time total
Type of respondent respondents responses per per respondent respondent
respondent (hours) burden hours
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Clinicians...................................... 414 1 0.25 104
Medical office staff............................ 1,224 1 0.25 306
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Total....................................... 1,638 .............. .............. 410
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Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal Government
The total cost to the Government for developing the clinician
survey is approximately $257,000, and for the medical office staff
survey is approximately $268,000. These estimates include the costs of
background literature reviews, survey development, cognitive testing,
pilot data collection, data analysis, and preparation of final
deliverables and reports.
Request for Comments
In accordance with the above-cited Paperwork Reduction Act
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
AHRQ 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: November 21, 2006.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
Director.
[FR Doc. 06-9548 Filed 12-5-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-M