Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 78 / Wednesday, April 23, 2014 / Notices 22683 

of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), 

is conducting an open dialogue to 

discuss improvements to the federal 

acquisition process. This dialogue is 

part an ongoing effort to improve the 

effectiveness and efficiency of the 

federal acquisition system by 

identifying impactful steps that can be 

taken by agencies to improve the way 

they do business with the best 

companies and enter into contracts that 

allow these companies to provide their 

best solutions for the taxpayer. 

DATES: Effective: April 23, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may 

participate in the dialogue through an 

online platform by reviewing the 

information and participation dates 

posted at www.cao.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Jim Wade, OFPP, 202–395–2181 or 

jwade@omb.eop.gov; or Mr. Mathew 

Blum, OFPP, 202–395–4953, or mblum@

omb.eop.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

President’s Management Agenda lays 

the foundation for creating a 21st 

century government that delivers better 

results to the American people. This 

foundation includes an efficient and 

effective acquisition system that 

maximizes the value of every taxpayer 

dollar. 

The federal acquisition system is 

governed by a myriad of rules, both 

administrative and statutory, that are 

designed to help agencies maximize 

results from their contracts, make sure 

that contractors are qualified to do 

business with the federal government, 

and ensure consistency with key 

economic and social policies. Efforts to 

streamline, modernize, and improve 

requirements may allow contractors and 

agencies to execute in a more efficient 

and effective manner, while still 

supporting the execution of these 

policies. 

The CAOC, in collaboration with the 

FAR Council, the CIOC, GSA and OFPP, 

seeks to conduct an open conversation 

to identify specific rules and 

requirements, tools, procedures, and 

practices that impact the efficiency and 

effectiveness of federal procurement and 

ways to improve them. The CAOC is 

interested in hearing about proposed 

improvements that can be accomplished 

through executive (regulatory, 

administrative, or management) action, 

as well as potential legislative proposals 

where requirements are based in statute. 

Dialogue will be encouraged in each of 

the following areas: 

• Reporting and compliance 

requirements—e.g., opportunities where 

collection processes and systems can be 

reengineered or automated, duplicative 

reporting can be eliminated, the 

frequency of reporting can be reduced, 

and outdated compliance thresholds can 

be changed. 

• Procurement practices—e.g., 

opportunities where acquisition 

strategies can be modernized (to support 

more efficient and effective acquisition 

of IT, in particular), where best 

commercial practices can be utilized, as 

well as efforts to promote greater 

consideration of innovative solutions 

and contracting practices. 

• Participation by small and minority 

businesses, new entrants, and nontraditional government contractors— 

e.g., opportunities for improving 

existing technical or strategic assistance 

programs, making buying platforms for 

finding business opportunities and 

bidding more user friendly, and 

lowering the cost of doing business. 

To facilitate feedback, an online 

platform is being launched so that 

interested parties may submit ideas, 

respond to questions posed by 

moderators, and comment on other 

ideas—including those that they think 

are most promising and impactful. 

Information on the platform and the 

dates for participating in the dialogue 

are posted at www.cao.gov. 

Dated: April 17, 2014. 

William Clark, 

Acting Senior Procurement Executive, Office 

of Acquisition Policy, Office of Governmentwide Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2014–09129 Filed 4–22–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–61–P 

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) approve the proposed 

information collection project: ‘‘Phase II 

of a Longitudinal Program Evaluation of 

Health and Human Services (HHS) 

Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) 

National Action Plan (NAP).’’ In 

accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501–3521, 

AHRQ invites the public to comment on 

this proposed information collection. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by June 23, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz, 

Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, by 

email at doris.lefkowitz@AHRQ.hhs.gov. 

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 doris.lefkowitz@AHRQ.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project 

Phase II of a Longitudinal Program 

Evaluation of Heath Human Services 

(HHS) Healthcare Associated Infections 

(HAI) National Action Plan (NAP) 

This evaluation of HHS’ Healthcare 

Associated Infections National Action 

Plan will assess the efficacy, efficiency 

and coordination of federal efforts to 

mitigate and prevent Healthcare 

Associated Infections (HAIs). As such, 

the evaluation represents a critical 

component of AHRQ’s mission to 

promote health care quality 

improvement. 

HAIs are infections that patients 

acquire while receiving treatment for 

other conditions while in a healthcare 

setting. They affect care in hospitalshereafter referred to as ‘‘acute care’’, 

ambulatory care settings, and long-term 

care facilities, and represent a 

significant cause of illness and death in 

the United States. Over one million 

HAIs occur across health care settings 

every year. 

In 2008, amidst growing demands on 

the healthcare system, rising healthcare 

costs, and increasing concerns about 

antimicrobial-resistant pathogens, HHS 

established a senior-level Steering 

Committee for the Prevention of HAIs. 

Charged with improving coordination 

and maximizing the efficiency of 

prevention efforts across HHS, the 

Steering Committee released the first 

‘‘National Action Plan to Prevent Health 

Care-Associated Infections’’ (HAI NAP) 

in 2009. This plan outlined a systematic 

and phased approach to reducing HAIs 

and associated morbidity, mortality, and 

costs. Phase One of HAI NAP, which 

concluded in 2012, focused on HAI 

prevention in acute care hospitals, 

where data on prevention and the 

capacity to measure improvement were 

most complete. 

Additionally, the plan set specific 

targets for reducing rates of six high 

priority HAIs or specific causative 

organisms: Surgical site infection (SSI), 


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22684 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 78 / Wednesday, April 23, 2014 / Notices 

central-line associated bloodstream 

infection (CLABSI), ventilatorassociated pneumonia (VAP), catheterassociated urinary tract infection 

(CAUTI), Clostridium difficile infection, 

and methicillin-resistant 

Staphylococcus aureus infection 

(MRSA). 

Phase II of the Action Plan, entitled 

National Action Plan to Prevent 

Healthcare-Associated Infections: 

Roadmap to Elimination was released in 

April 2012. Phase II expanded the 

Action Plan to include prevention of 

HAIs in ambulatory surgical centers 

(ASCs) and end-stage renal disease 

(ESRD) facilities, and increasing 

influenza vaccination coverage of 

healthcare personnel. Phase III of the 

HAI NAP, released for public comment 

in April 2013, further expanded the 

Action Plan to include prevention of 

HAIs in long-term care facilities. 

Evaluation of HAI NAP. In 2009, 

AHRQ funded an independent, outside 

evaluation of HHS’ HAI prevention 

efforts, as guided by the Action Plan. 

The goals of this evaluation were to: (1) 

Record the content and scope of the 

Action Plan, its current design, its 

progress, and impact on the future; (2) 

establish baseline data and provide 

additional information on the HAI 

landscape prior to and following the 

initiation of the Action Plan effort; and 

(3) provide strategic insights from 

ongoing processes for reducing HAIs 

and outcomes of these processes. 

The current evaluation will expand 

upon this initial effort, encompassing 

the additional health care settings 

outlined in Phases II and III of the HAI 

NAP. 

The goals of this Phase II evaluation 

are to: 

1. Identify commonalities, gaps, 

themes, and opportunities for 

collaboration across six Federal quality 

improvement and patient safety efforts 

to eliminate HAIs; and 

2. highlight actionable opportunities 

across HHS to collaborate and 

efficiently utilize resources in these 

quality improvement and patient safety 

efforts; and 

3. assess the unique and aggregate 

contributions of each quality 

improvement and patient safety effort to 

the mitigation and prevention of HAIs. 

This study is being conducted by 

AHRQ through its contractor, Insight 

Policy Research, Inc. and its 

subcontractors, IMPAQ International 

and RAND Corporation, pursuant to 

AHRQ’s statutory authority to conduct 

and support research and evaluations on 

healthcare 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 the HAI NAP 

evaluation, the following data 

collections will be implemented: 

Semi-structured interviews. Key 

informant interviews with stakeholders 

of the HAI National Action Plan or the 

Quality Improvement (QI) initiatives 

that the Action Plan seeks to coordinate 

and align. These stakeholders will have 

knowledge of the QI initiatives as 

implemented in acute care, ambulatory 

care, long term care or ESRD facilities. 

AHRQ plans to conduct 33 interviews 

each year, over the course of two years. 

The semi-structured interviews will 

inform the process evaluation. 

AHRQ will use the interview data to 

assess the processes and methods used, 

results achieved, and lessons learned 

from patient quality and safety programs 

that are directed at reducing the 

incidence of HAIs. This information 

will enable AHRQ to identify 

redundancies in program efforts and 

provide effective approaches for 

coordinating and aligning Federal 

efforts to prevent the incidence of HAIs. 

Finally, collecting data from these 

stakeholders will allow AHRQ to detect 

gaps in the HAI science base and 

opportunities for funding additional 

projects focused on generating and 

implementing knowledge on preventing 

HAIs. 

The information gathered through the 

key informant interviews will be 

presented to members of a Federal 

Action Working Group (FAWG), 

comprising representatives from the 

various federal agencies and operating 

divisions of HHS who are actively 

involved in the HAI NAP. Presentations 

to the FAWG will provide continual and 

rapid-cycle feedback on evaluation 

findings. This feedback will accomplish 

several goals—namely, it will apprise 

the FAWG members of the study’s 

formative findings, provide a medium to 

obtain feedback from the FAWG 

regarding the unique and aggregate 

impact of the national programs, and 

engage the FAWG in a discussion about 

gaps and future requirements. 

Ultimately, the information gathered 

through this data collection effort will 

appear in annual reports, along with 

results of secondary data analyses. 

These reports will provide AHRQ and 

HHS with comprehensive, evaluative 

findings across and within individual 

patient safety programs as well as 

findings specific to the HAI NAP, and 

the extent to which the goals outlined 

in the plan have been achieved. 

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden 

Exhibit 1 shows the estimated 

annualized burden hours for the 

respondents’ time to participate in this 

evaluation. The total burden hours are 

estimated to be 66, which covers two 

years of interviews. The exhibits below 

indicate annualized burden hours in 

one year. 

In-Depth Interviews with 

Stakeholders: AHRQ plans to conduct 

33 semi-structured interviews each year 

for two years, totaling 66 semistructured interviews during the course 

of the evaluation. These interviews will 

be conducted with key HAI NAP 

stakeholders with expertise in one or 

more of the four targeted healthcare 

settings. These healthcare settings 

include: Acute care hospital settings, 

ambulatory surgical centers, ESRD 

facilities, and long term care settings. 

Respondents will be interviewed by 

telephone. Participant recruitment 

should take no longer than five minutes. 

Scheduling will take place through 

email and will include an attached letter 

of support from AHRQ. Interviews will 

last up to one hour. 

EXHIBIT 1—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Data collection activity 

Number of 

respondents 

per year 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Hours per 

response 

Total burden 

hours 

In-depth Interviews with HAI NAP Stakeholders with expertise pertaining to: 

• Acute Care Hospital Settings ................................................................ 9 1 1 9 

• Ambulatory Surgical Centers ................................................................ 8 1 1 8 

• ESRD facilities ...................................................................................... 8 1 1 8 

• Long Term Care Settings ..................................................................... 8 1 1 8 


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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 78 / Wednesday, April 23, 2014 / Notices 22685 

EXHIBIT 1—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS—Continued 

Data collection activity 

Number of 

respondents 

per year 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Hours per 

response 

Total burden 

hours 

Total ................................................................................................... 33 1 1 33 

EXHIBIT 2—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN

Data collection activity Number of 

respondents 

Total burden 

hours 

Average hourly wage rate Total cost 

burden 

In-depth Interviews with external stakeholders: 

• Acute Care Hospital Settings ................................................................ 9 9 $34.33* $309.00 

• Ambulatory Surgical Centers ................................................................ 8 8 34.33* 275.00 

• ESRD facilities ...................................................................................... 8 8 34.33* 275.00 

• Long Term Care Settings ..................................................................... 8 8 34.33* 275.00 

Total ................................................................................................... 33 na na 1,134.00 

* Based upon May 2012 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates for Epidemiologists, retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/oes/

current/oes_nat.htm#19-0000 on February 20, 2014. 

Request for Comments 

In accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act, 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: April 9, 2014. 

Richard Kronick, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. 2014–09172 Filed 4–22–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality 

Notice of Meeting 

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research 

and Quality, HHS. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with section 

10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. 2), 

announcement is made of an Agency for 

Healthcare Research and Quality 

(AHRQ) Special Emphasis Panel (SEP) 

meeting on ‘‘AHRQ RFA–HS14–007, 

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research 

(PCOR) for Deliberative Approaches: 

Patient and Consumer Input for 

Implementing Evidence-Based Health 

Care (R21)’’. Each SEP meeting will 

commence in open session before 

closing to the public for the duration of 

the meeting. 

DATES: May 15–16, 2014 (Open on May 

15 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 

closed for the remainder of the meeting). 

ADDRESSES: Gaithersburg Marriott 

Washingtonian Center, 9751 

Washingtonian Boulevard, Gaithersburg, 

Maryland 20878. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Anyone wishing to obtain a roster of 

members, agenda or minutes of the nonconfidential portions of this meeting 

should contact: 

Mrs. Bonnie Campbell, 

Committee Management Officer, 

Office of Extramural Research, 

Education and Priority Populations, 

AHRQ, 

540 Gaither Road, Room 2038, 

Rockville, Maryland 20850, 

Telephone: (301) 427–1554. 

Agenda items for this meeting are 

subject to change as priorities dictate. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A Special 

Emphasis Panel is a group of experts in 

fields related to health care research 

who are invited by the Agency for 

Healthcare Research and Quality 

(AHRQ), and agree to be available, to 

conduct on an as needed basis, 

scientific reviews of applications for 

AHRQ support. Individual members of 

the Panel do not attend regularlyscheduled meetings and do not serve for 

fixed terms or a long period of time. 

Rather, they are asked to participate in 

particular review meetings which 

require their type of expertise. 

Each SEP meeting will commence in 

open session before closing to the public 

for the duration of the meeting. The SEP 

meeting referenced above will be closed 

to the public in accordance with the 

provisions set forth in 5 U.S.C. App. 2, 

section 10(d), 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(4), and 5 

U.S.C. 552b(c)(6). Grant applications for 

the ‘‘AHRQ RFA–HS14–007, PatientCentered Outcomes Research (PCOR) for 

Deliberative Approaches: Patient and 

Consumer Input for Implementing 

Evidence-Based Health Care (R21)’’ are 

to be reviewed and discussed at this 

meeting. The grant applications and the 

discussions could disclose confidential 

trade secrets or commercial property 

such as patentable material, and 

personal information concerning 

individuals associated with the grant 

applications, the disclosure of which 

would constitute a clearly unwarranted 

invasion of personal privacy. 

Dated: April 9, 2014. 

Richard Kronick, 

AHRQ Director. 

[FR Doc. 2014–09175 Filed 4–22–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–P 


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