81478 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 242 / Wednesday, December 16, 2020 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality 

Notice of Opportunity To Comment on 

Strategies To Improve Patient Safety: 

Draft Report to Congress for Public 

Comment and Review by the National 

Academy of Medicine 

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research 

and Quality (AHRQ), Department of 

Health and Human Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Notice of opportunity to 

comment. 

SUMMARY: As required by the Patient 

Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 

2005 (Patient Safety Act), the Secretary 

of HHS (the Secretary) is making this 

draft report on effective strategies for 

reducing medical errors and increasing 

patient safety available to the public for 

review and comment. The draft report 

includes measures determined 

appropriate by the Secretary to 

encourage the appropriate use of such 

strategies. 

DATES: Send comments on or before 

February 16, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: The draft report, Strategies 

to Improve Patient Safety: Draft Report 

to Congress for Public Comment and 

Review by the National Academy of 

Medicine, can be accessed electronically 

at the following HHS website: https://

pso.ahrq.gov/legislation/act. Comments 

on the draft report must be submitted by 

email to PSQIA.RC@ahrq.hhs.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Paula DiStabile, Patient Safety 

Organization Division, Center for 

Quality Improvement and Patient 

Safety, AHRQ, 5600 Fishers Lane, 

Mailstop 06N100B, Rockville, MD 

20857; telephone (toll free): (866) 403– 

3697; telephone (local): (301) 427–1111; 

TTY (toll free): (866) 438–7231; TTY 

(local): (301) 427–1130; email: 

PSQIA.RC@ahrq.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Secretary, in consultation with 

the Director of AHRQ, has prepared a 

draft report on effective strategies for 

reducing medical errors and increasing 

patient safety as required by the Patient 

Safety Act. The report includes 

measures determined appropriate by the 

Secretary to encourage the appropriate 

use of such strategies, including use in 

any federally funded programs. The 

draft report is now available for public 

comment and will be (or has been) 

submitted to the National Academy of 

Medicine for review. The final report is 

required to be submitted to Congress no 

later than December 21, 2021. The 

specific provision describing these 

requirements can be found at 42 U.S.C. 

299b–22(j). 

The Patient Safety Act created a 

framework for the development of a 

voluntary patient safety event reporting 

system to advance patient safety and 

quality of care across the Nation. 

Without limiting patients’ rights to their 

medical information, the law created 

Federal legal privilege and 

confidentiality protections for patient 

safety work product; that is, information 

exchanged between healthcare 

providers and organizations listed by 

the Secretary that specialize in patient 

safety and quality improvement, called 

patient safety organizations (PSOs). The 

law charged PSOs with analyzing and 

using this information to provide 

feedback and assistance to help 

providers minimize patient risk and 

improve the safety and quality of their 

care. More information about the Patient 

Safety Act, its implementing regulation, 

and PSOs can be found at https://

pso.ahrq.gov/. 

In addition to creating a protected 

legal environment where healthcare 

providers can share information and 

learning for improvement purposes 

beyond organizational and State 

boundaries, Congress also envisioned 

and created the potential for aggregating 

and analyzing patient safety data on a 

national scale. This part of the Patient 

Safety Act, the network of patient safety 

databases (NPSD), is a mechanism that 

can leverage data contributed by 

individual healthcare providers and 

PSOs across the United States into a 

valuable national resource for 

improving patient safety. Congress 

required the draft report that is the 

subject of this Notice to be made 

available for public comment and 

submitted to the Institute of Medicine 

(now the National Academy of 

Medicine) no later than 18 months after 

the NPSD became operational. The 

NPSD became operational on June 21, 

2019. More information about the NPSD 

can be found at https://www.ahrq.gov/ 

npsd/index.html. 

Overview of the Draft Report 

The draft report contains three 

chapters. It begins with an overview of 

the impetus for and objectives of the 

Patient Safety Act, its key provisions, 

and some milestones in its 

implementation. Chapter 2 reviews 

some of the principles and concepts 

underlying effective patient safety 

improvement, provides an overview of 

research and measurement in patient 

safety, and presents the strategies and 

practices for reducing medical errors 

and increasing patient safety reviewed 

in AHRQ’s Making Healthcare Safer 

reports, published in 2001, 2013, and 

2020. Together, these reports reviewed 

the existing evidence for the 

effectiveness of more than 100 patient 

safety strategies and practices used in 

hospitals, primary care practices, longterm care facilities, and other healthcare 

settings. They include cross-cutting 

strategies and topics such as patient and 

family engagement and teamwork 

training; safety topics specific to 

particular clinical interventions, such as 

medications and surgery; a variety of 

tools and processes, such as rapid 

response teams and antimicrobial 

stewardship; and practices that target 

prevention of specific harms, such as 

healthcare-associated infections and 

pressure injuries. Hyperlinks in the 

draft report lead to the full text of the 

evidence review and to later updates 

regarding the assessment of evidence for 

the effectiveness for each strategy and 

practice. The final chapter in the draft 

report begins with an overview of 

learning health systems and concepts 

underlying effective implementation of 

patient safety strategies. It provides 

examples of resources Federal agencies 

make available to encourage healthcare 

providers to use effective patient safety 

strategies and describes ‘‘Safer Together: 

A National Action Plan to Advance 

Patient Safety,’’ recently released by the 

National Steering Committee for Patient 

Safety that was convened by the 

Institute for Healthcare Improvement. 

The draft report concludes by describing 

an approach that has a track record of 

success in encouraging providers to use 

effective practices to improve patient 

safety and outlines measures that could 

accelerate progress in improving patient 

safety and encouraging the use of 

effective patient safety improvement 

strategies. 

Where To View the Draft Report and 

How To Submit Comments 

The draft report is posted on the 

AHRQ PSO Program website at https:// 

pso.ahrq.gov/legislation/act. The 

website contains a link to the email 

address for submitting comments on the 

draft report, which is PSQIA.RC@

ahrq.hhs.gov. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 242 / Wednesday, December 16, 2020 / Notices 81479 

Dated: December 10, 2020. 

Marquita Cullom, 

Associate Director. 

[FR Doc. 2020–27589 Filed 12–15–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Office of the Secretary 

Delegation of Authority 

Notice is hereby given that I have 

delegated to the National Coordinator 

for Health Information Technology, 

Office of the National Coordinator for 

Health Information Technology (ONC), 

or his or her successor, the authorities 

that are vested in the Secretary of Health 

and Human Services under title III, 

Section 307, ‘‘International 

Cooperation,’’ of the Public Health 

Service (PHS) Act, [42 U.S.C. 242 l], as 

amended, with regard to participating 

with other countries in cooperative 

endeavors. 

Limitation 

This delegation of authority may be 

re-delegated within ONC. Previous 

delegations and re-delegations made to 

officials within the Department of 

Health and Human Services for 

authorities under Section 307 of the 

PHS Act continue in effect. Exercise of 

this authority shall be in accordance 

with established policies, procedures, 

guidelines, and regulations as 

prescribed by the Secretary. The 

Secretary retains the authority to submit 

reports to Congress, promulgate 

regulations, and to establish advisory 

committees and councils and appoint 

their members. I hereby affirm and ratify 

any actions taken by the National 

Coordinator, ONC, or other ONC 

officials, which involve the exercise of 

this authority prior to the effective date 

of this delegation. 

Effective Date 

This delegation of authority is 

effective immediately. 

Authority 

Section 6 of the Reorganization Plan 

No. 1 of 1953 and Section 2 of the 

Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1966. 

Dated: December 9, 2020. 

Eric D. Hargan, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2020–27606 Filed 12–15–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4150–45–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

National Cancer Institute; Notice of 

Closed Meetings 

Pursuant to section 10(d) of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act, as 

amended, notice is hereby given of the 

following meetings. 

The meetings 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/or contract proposals 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 and/or contract proposals, 

the disclosure of which would 

constitute a clearly unwarranted 

invasion of personal privacy. 

Name of Committee: National Cancer 

Institute Special Emphasis Panel; K22 

Transition Career Development Award. 

Date: January 19, 2021. 

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate grant 

applications. 

Place: National Cancer Institute at Shady 

Grove, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Room 

7W234, Rockville, Maryland 20850 

(Telephone Conference Call). 

Contact Person: Adriana Stoica, Ph.D., 

Scientific Review Officer, Resources and 

Training Review Branch, Division of 

Extramural Activities, National Cancer 

Institute, NIH, 9609 Medical Center Drive, 

Room 7W234, Rockville, Maryland 20850, 

240–276–6368, Stoicaa2@mail.nih.gov. 

Name of Committee: National Cancer 

Institute Special Emphasis Panel; Assay 

Validation of High-Quality Markers for 

Clinical Studies in Cancer. 

Date: January 21, 2021. 

Time: 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate grant 

applications. 

Place: National Cancer Institute at Shady 

Grove, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Room 

7W124, Rockville, Maryland 20850 

(Telephone Conference Call). 

Contact Person: Eun Ah Cho, Ph.D., 

Scientific Review Officer, Special Review 

Branch, Division of Extramural Activities, 

National Cancer Institute, NIH, 9609 Medical 

Center Drive, Room 7W124, Rockville, 

Maryland 20850, 240–276–6342 choe@

mail.nih.gov. 

Name of Committee: National Cancer 

Institute Special Emphasis Panel; 

Applications related to Pediatrics. 

Date: January 26, 2021. 

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate grant 

applications. 

Place: National Cancer Institute at Shady 

Grove, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Room 

7W530, Rockville, Maryland 20850, 

(Telephone Conference Call). 

Contact Person: Shamala K. Srinivas, 

Ph.D., Associate Director, Office of Referral, 

Review, and Program Coordination, Division 

of Extramural Activities, National Cancer 

Institute, NIH, 9609 Medical Center Drive, 

Room 7W530, Rockville, Maryland 20850, 

240–276–6442 ss537t@nih.gov. 

Name of Committee: National Cancer 

Institute Special Emphasis Panel; TEP–3: 

SBIR Contract Review. 

Date: January 29, 2021. 

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate contract 

proposals. 

Place: National Cancer Institute at Shady 

Grove, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Room 

7W254, Rockville, Maryland 20850, 

(Telephone Conference Call). 

Contact Person: Eduardo Emilio Chufan, 

Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, Research 

Technology and Contract Review Branch, 

Division of Extramural Activities, National 

Cancer Institute, NIH, 9609 Medical Center 

Drive, Room 7W254, Rockville, Maryland 

20850, 240–276–7975 chufanee@

mail.nih.gov. 

Name of Committee: National Cancer 

Institute Special Emphasis Panel; SEP–5: NCI 

Clinical and Translational R21 and Omnibus 

R03 Review. 

Date: February 4–5, 2021. 

Time: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate grant 

applications. 

Place: National Cancer Institute at Shady 

Grove, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Room 

7W248, Rockville, Maryland 20850, 

(Telephone Conference Call). 

Contact Person: Shree Ram Singh, Ph.D., 

Scientific Review Officer, Special Review 

Branch, Division of Extramural Activities, 

National Cancer Institute, NIH, 9609 Medical 

Center Drive, Room 7W248, Rockville, 

Maryland 20817, 240–672–6175 singhshr@

mail.nih.gov. 

Name of Committee: National Cancer 

Institute Special Emphasis Panel; SEP–2: NCI 

Clinical and Translational R21 and Omnibus 

R03 Review. 

Date: February 4–5, 2021. 

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate grant 

applications. 

Place: National Cancer Institute at Shady 

Grove, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Room 

7W264, Rockville, Maryland 20850 

(Telephone Conference Call) 

Contact Person: Ombretta Salvucci, Ph.D., 

Scientific Review Officer, Special Review 

Branch, Division of Extramural Activities, 

National Cancer Institute, NIH, 9609 Medical 

Center Drive, Room 7W264, Rockville, 

Maryland 20854, 240–276–7286 salvucco@

mail.nih.gov. 

Name of Committee: National Cancer 

Institute Special Emphasis Panel; NCI SPORE 

(P50) Review IV. 

Date: February 9–10, 2021. 

Time: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate grant 

applications. 

Place: National Cancer Institute at Shady 

Grove, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Room 


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