Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 18, 2011 / Notices 2911 

General Function of the 

Subcommittee: to provide 

recommendations to the HIT Policy 

Committee on recommendations it 

should consider issuing to the National 

Coordinator on future stages of 

meaningful use. 

Date and Time: The Meaningful Use 

Workgroup will hold the following 

public meetings between January and 

March (dates past March have not yet 

been determined): 

• Tuesday, March 8, 2011, 10 a.m. to 

1 p.m./EDT; 

• Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 10 a.m. to 

1 p.m./EDT; 

• Early April, 2011, date and time 

TBD. 

Location: All workgroup meetings 

will be available via webcast; visit 

http://healthit.hhs.gov for instructions 

on how to listen via telephone or Web. 

Please check the ONC Web site for 

additional information as it becomes 

available. 

Contact Person: Judy Sparrow, Office 

of the National Coordinator, HHS, 330 C 

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20201, 

202–205–4528, Fax: 202–690–6079, email: judy.sparrow@hhs.gov. Please call 

the contact person for up-to-date 

information on these meetings. A notice 

in the Federal Register about last 

minute modifications that affect a 

previously announced advisory 

committee meeting cannot always be 

published quickly enough to provide 

timely notice. 

Agenda: At each meeting, the 

Meaningful Use Workgroup will engage 

in discussions regarding the 

recommendations it should make to the 

HIT Policy Committee relative to 

meaningful use Stage 2. 

Procedure: In order to inform its 

deliberations, the Meaningful Use 

Workgroup is seeking comments 

particularly on proposed stage 2 

measures from the public on a draft 

document of preliminary 

recommendations it has developed. 

Please refer to ONC’s Web site at 

http://healthit.hhs.gov to access this 

draft document and for more 

information about how to submit 

comments. 

Persons attending ONC’s advisory 

committee meetings are advised that the 

agency is not responsible for providing 

access to electrical outlets. 

ONC welcomes the attendance of the 

public at its advisory committee 

meetings. Seating is limited at the 

location, and ONC will make every 

effort to accommodate persons with 

physical disabilities or special needs. If 

you require special accommodations 

due to a disability, please contact Judy 

Sparrow at least seven (7) days in 

advance of the meeting. 

ONC is committed to the orderly 

conduct of its advisory committee 

meetings. Please visit our Web site at 

http://healthit.hhs.gov for procedures 

on public conduct during advisory 

committee meetings. 

Notice of this meeting is given under 

the Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(Pub. L. 92–463, 5 U.S.C., App. 2). 

Dated: January 11, 2011. 

Judith Sparrow, 

Office of Programs and Coordination, Office 

of the National Coordinator for Health 

Information Technology. 

[FR Doc. 2011–885 Filed 1–12–11; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4150–45–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: ‘‘Barriers 

to Meaningful Use in Medicaid.’’ In 

accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501–3520, 

AHRQ invites the public to comment on 

this proposed information collection. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by March 21, 2011. 

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 

e-mail at doris.lefkowitz@AHRQ.hhs.

gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project 

Barriers to Meaningful Use in Medicaid 

The Health Information Technology 

for Economic and Clinical Health 

(HITECH) Act, Title XIII of Division A 

and Title IV of Division B of the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 (ARRA) (Pub. L. 111–5), 

provides for financial incentives for 

Medicaid providers to adopt and 

meaningfully use certified electronic 

health record (EHR) technologies. To 

ensure that eligible professionals (EPs) 

are able to qualify for and access these 

incentives, AHRQ proposes a two-year 

project with the objective of 

understanding the barriers that 

Medicaid health providers encounter 

along the way to achieving the 

meaningful use of EHRs. This proposed 

information collection will allow AHRQ 

to synthesize knowledge regarding the 

barriers that BPs encounter when 

attempting to achieve meaningful use 

and translate that knowledge to develop 

technical assistance and support 

implementation and use of EHRs. 

Further, health care providers who 

serve Medicaid beneficiaries are serving 

many of AHRQ’s priority populations: 

Inner city; rural; low income; minority; 

women; children; elderly; and those 

with special health care needs. The 

project is designed to solicit actionable 

recommendations on what activities can 

best help Medicaid providers take 

advantage of incentive payments, 

achieve meaningful use, and ultimately 

use health IT to improve health care for 

the Medicaid population. The 

information gathered under this project 

will also be used to inform the 

development of the Stage 2 and 3 

Meaningful Use criteria. 

In order to gather, analyze, and 

synthesize information on the barriers to 

the meaningful use criteria experienced 

by Medicaid providers this research has 

the following goals: 

(1) Identify the barriers to eligibility 

for the incentive payments; barriers to 

adoption, implementation, or upgrading 

of ERR systems; and barriers to 

achieving meaningful use. 

(2) Develop actionable 

recommendations to overcoming the 

barriers identified in #1 above, 

including, but not limited to, technical 

assistance that could be made available 

to Medicaid providers. 

(3) Provide data to inform the 

meaningful use objectives being 

developed by the Center for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS) for Stages 2 

and 3 of the EHR Incentive Program. 

This study is being conducted by 

AHRQ through its contractor, RTI 

International, pursuant to AHRQ’s 

statutory authority to conduct and 

support research to advance both 

training for health care practitioners in 

the use of information systems and the 

use of computer-based health records. 

42 U.S.C. 299b–3(a)(2) and (6). 

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2912 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 18, 2011 / Notices 

Method of Collection 

To achieve the goals of this project the 

following data collections will be 

implemented: 

(1) A screening questionnaire will be 

used to identify eligible participants, as 

part of the sampling procedure for the 

focus groups. Appended to the 

screening questionnaire is a series of 

questions for individuals who have 

agreed to participate in the focus 

groups, in order to collect descriptive 

and demographic information prior to 

the focus group session, and as part of 

the analysis plan. 

(2) Nine focus groups will include 6– 

11 EPs per group, containing a mix of 

pediatricians, other physicians, dentists, 

nurse practitioners, and certified nurse 

midwives. Focus groups with 

community health center (CHC) and 

rural health center (RHC)-based 

providers will also include physician 

assistants and administrators. Four of 

the focus groups will include providers 

in private practice (excluding dentists), 

an additional four will include 

providers working in CHCs or RHCs, 

and the final group will be comprised of 

private practice dentists. Private 

practice dentists are being considered 

separately due to the fact that their 

practice patterns are likely to vary 

substantially from those of primary care 

physicians and non-physician 

providers. The purpose of these focus 

groups is to gather information about 

adoption issues (factors in the decision 

to adopt an EHR), implementation 

issues (organizational or environmental 

factors that facilitate EHR 

implementation and training), upgrade 

issues (challenges to transitioning to 

certified EHRs), and challenges to 

achieving meaningful use of ERRS as 

defined for Stage 1 in the final rule for 

the Medicare and Medicaid ERR 

Incentive Program (75 FR 44314) 

(particular functions that are 

problematic, the source of the 

challenge). Responses will also address 

topics related to participants’ 

knowledge of the ERR incentive 

program and other factors that may 

facilitate EHR use. The focus group 

moderator will use a moderator’s guide 

to guide discussion. Show cards will 

provide key reminders of content for 

discussion. 

The information will be used to 

develop actionable recommendations to 

overcoming barriers to meaningful use 

of EHRs for Medicaid providers, 

including but not limited to technical 

assistance that could be made available 

to Medicaid providers. Furthermore, the 

data gathered through this research will 

inform the meaningful use objectives 

being developed by CMS for Stages 2 

and 3 of the EHR Incentive Program. 

Three types of information will be 

collected: List of potential focus group 

participants, descriptive and 

demographic information about focus 

group participants, and the information 

gathered at each focus group related to 

the barriers to meaningful use. The 

information will be synthesized to 

provide information to the Federal 

government to inform the future 

meaningful use regulations and 

understand any disparities potentially 

resulting from the implementation of 

the incentive programs. 

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden 

Exhibit 1 shows the estimated 

annualized burden hours for the 

respondents’ time to participate in this 

research. The screening questionnaire 

will be completed by 300 clinicians and 

will take 12 minutes to complete on 

average. Focus groups will be conducted 

with not more than 89 clinicians and 

will last about 2 hours. The total annual 

burden hours are estimated to be 238 

hours. 

Exhibit 2 shows the estimated 

annualized cost burden associated with 

the respondents’ time to participate in 

this research. The total annual cost 

burden is estimated to be $15,902. 

EXHIBIT 1—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Data collection Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Hours per 

response 

Total 

burden 

hours 

Screening Questionnaire ................................................................................. 300 1 12/60 60 

Focus Groups .................................................................................................. 89 1 2 178 

Total .......................................................................................................... 389 na na 238 

EXHIBIT 2—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN

Data collection Number of 

respondents 

Total 

burden 

hours 

Average 

hourly 

wage rate * 

Total cost 

burden 

Screening Questionnaire ................................................................................. 300 60 66.82 $4,009 

Focus Groups .................................................................................................. 89 178 66.82 11,893 

Total .......................................................................................................... 389 238 na 15,902 

* Hourly wage rate is the weighted average of hourly rates of the types of professionals who will be participating in the focus groups. The 

weighted average includes the following occupational codes and wage rates: 29–1065 (Pediatricians, General), $78.67; 29–1069 (Physicians and 

Surgeons, All Other), $97.35; 29–1021 (Dentists, General), $76.61; 29–1111 (Registered Nurses), $32.35; 11–9111 (Medical and Health Services Managers), $40.85; 29–1071 (Physician Assistants), $41.86. Source: ‘‘National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United 

States 2009,’’ U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal 

Government 

Exhibit 3 shows the estimated total 

and annualized cost to the government 

for conducting this research. The total 

cost is estimated to be $424,493. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 18, 2011 / Notices 2913 

EXHIBIT 3—ESTIMATED TOTAL AND ANNUALIZED COST

Cost component Total cost Annualized 

cost 

Project Development ............................................................................................................................................... $79,313 $39,657 

Data Collection Activities ......................................................................................................................................... 99,464 49,732 

Data Processing and Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 49,732 24,866 

Publication of Results .............................................................................................................................................. 38,415 19,208 

Project Management ................................................................................................................................................ 37,601 18,801 

Overhead ................................................................................................................................................................. 119,968 59,984 

Total .................................................................................................................................................................. 424,493 212,247 

Request for Comments 

In accordance with the above-cited 

Paperwork Reduction Act legislation, 

comments on AHRQs 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 healthcare research and 

healthcare 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: January 4, 2011. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. 2011–410 Filed 1–14–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

National Cancer Institute; Amended 

Notice of Meeting 

Notice is hereby given of a change in 

the meeting of the National Cancer 

Institute Special Emphasis Panel, 

January 24, 2011, 5 p.m. to January 26, 

2011, 5 p.m., Bethesda North Marriott 

Hotel & Conference Center, 5701 

Marinelli RD, Bethesda, MD, 20852 

which was published in the Federal 

Register on November 24, 2010, 75 FR 

71713. 

This notice is amending the meeting 

from three days to two days. The new 

date and time of this meeting is January 

25, 2011, 8 a.m. to January 26, 2011, 5 

p.m. The meeting is closed to the 

public. 

Dated: January 11, 2011. 

Jennifer S. Spaeth, 

Director, Office of Federal Advisory 

Committee Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2011–875 Filed 1–14–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

National Eye Institute; Amended Notice 

of Meeting 

Notice is hereby given of a change in 

the meeting of the National Advisory 

Eye Council, January 20, 2011, 8:30 a.m. 

to 12 p.m. for Open session and 1:15 

p.m. to adjournment for Closed Session, 

National Institutes of Health, 5635 

Fishers Lane, Terrace Level Conference 

Center, Bethesda, MD 20892 which was 

published in the Federal Register on 

December 8, 2010, Vol. 75; Number 

235–76474. 

The meeting will be on January 20, 

2011, 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Open session 

and 11 a.m. to adjournment for Closed 

Session. 

Dated: January 11, 2011. 

Jennifer S. Spaeth, 

Director, Office of Federal Advisory 

Committee Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2011–878 Filed 1–14–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

National Library of Medicine; Notice of 

Closed Meeting 

Pursuant to section 10(d) of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act, as 

amended (5 U.S.C. App), notice is 

hereby given of the following meeting. 

The meeting will be closed to the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions set forth in sections 

552b(c)(4) and 552b(c)(6), Title 5 U.S.C., 

as amended. The grant applications and 

the discussions could disclose 

confidential trade secrets or commercial 

property such as patentable materials, 

and personal information concerning 

individuals associated with the grant 

applications, the disclosure of which 

would constitute a clearly unwarranted 

invasion of personal privacy. 

Name of Committee: National Library of 

Medicine Special Emphasis Panel R01. 

Date: February 4, 2011. 

Time: 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate grant 

applications. 

Place: National Library of Medicine, 6705 

Rockledge Drive, Suite 301, Bethesda, MD 

20817. (Telephone Conference Call.) 

Contact Person: Zoe H. Huang, MD, 

Scientific Review Officer, Extramural 

Programs, National Library of Medicine, NIH, 

6705 Rockledge Drive, Suite 301, Bethesda, 

MD 20892–7968, 301–594–4937, 

huangz@mail.nih.gov. 

(Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program No. 93.879, Medical Library 

Assistance, National Institutes of Health, 

HHS). 

Dated: January 11, 2011. 

Jennifer S. Spaeth, 

Director, Office of Federal Advisory 

Committee Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2011–881 Filed 1–14–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

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