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[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 48 (Friday, March 11, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13412-13413]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5401]

[[Page 13412]]

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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, HHS.

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) approve the proposed information collection 
project: ``Health IT Tool Evaluation.'' 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 May 10, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz, 
Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, by e-mail 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

Health IT Tool Evaluation

    The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is a lead 
Federal agency in developing and disseminating evidence and evidence-
based tools on how health IT can improve health care quality, safety, 
efficiency, and effectiveness.
    In support of the health IT initiative, AHRQ developed the National 
Resource Center (NRC) for Health IT Web site. This site contains a 
range of information and evidence-based tools that support the health 
IT initiative's work and aims.
    With this project AHRQ is conducting an evaluation to assess 
whether these tools are reaching their intended audiences, are easy to 
use, and provide the information that users expect and need. The 
current project is an evaluation of one of the tools available on the 
NRC site: The Health IT Survey Compendium. The Health IT Survey 
Compendium is a searchable resource that contains a set of publicly 
available surveys to assist organizations in evaluating health IT. The 
surveys in the Health IT Survey Compendium cover a broad spectrum, 
including user satisfaction, usability, technology use, product 
functionality, and the impact of health IT on safety, quality, and 
efficiency.
    The audiences included in this evaluation are health IT researchers 
(ranging in experience and expertise from research assistants to more 
senior investigators such as university professors) and health IT 
implementers (e.g., clinical champions and IT staff at provider 
organizations, IT implementation consultants and experts). In the 
course of conducting this evaluation, AHRQ will evaluate both users and 
non-users (defined as not current but possible users) of the Health IT 
Survey Compendium.
    The goals of this project are to determine whether the Health IT 
Survey Compendium is reaching its intended audiences, whether it is 
meeting the information needs and expectations of these audiences, and 
whether it is easy to use.
    This study is being conducted by AHRQ through its contractors, 
Westat and Mosaica Partners, pursuant to AHRQ's statutory authority to 
conduct and support research on healthcare and on systems for the 
delivery of such care, including activities with respect to health care 
technologies. 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(5).

Method of Collection

    To achieve the projects' goals AHRQ will conduct the following 
activities:
    (1) Screening questionnaire--used to recruit research participants 
for the needs assessment interviews, usability testing and discussion 
groups, which are described below. The questionnaire also has a 
demographics section to collect some basic demographic information for 
those persons that ``screen-in.''
    (2) Needs assessment interviews--consisting of semi-structured 
interviews with non-users of the Health IT Survey Compendium. The 
purpose of these interviews is to discover and then assess the relative 
importance of information needs of the intended audiences of the 
Compendium. These interviews will provide the perspective of non-users 
of the Compendium in order to elicit unbiased feedback about 
information needs. After thoroughly exploring information needs, each 
interviewee will be shown the Health IT Survey Compendium and asked to 
provide feedback about how it addresses their needs for surveys and 
data collection instruments.
    (3) Usability testing--focusing on the navigation, ease of use, and 
usefulness of the Health IT Survey Compendium. These interviews will 
include both current users and non-users of the Health IT Survey 
Compendium.
    (4) Discussion groups--consisting of eight groups of 6-8 
participants each (a maximum of 64 participants across all eight 
groups). The majority of the session time will be spent showing the 
Health IT Survey Compendium to the participants, and the moderator will 
elicit reactions to and opinions about the Health IT Survey Compendium, 
its features, and the surveys offered.
    The outcome of the evaluation will be a report including 
recommendations for enhancing and improving the Health IT Survey 
Compendium. The report will provide results about both the perceived 
usefulness and the usability of the Health IT Survey Compendium. 
Results will be presented for individual audience segments as well as 
for the user population as a whole. The report will also include 
specific suggestions on how to revise and extend the Health IT Survey 
Compendium to make it more useful to health IT researchers and 
implementers, and will discuss the general implications of the Health 
IT Survey Compendium evaluation for the development and evaluation of 
other tools available on the NRC Web site.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annual burden hours for each 
respondent's time to participate in this evaluation. The screening 
questionnaire will be completed by as many as 120 persons and will take 
3 minutes to complete on average (only those persons that ``screen-in'' 
will complete the demographics section). The needs assessment will be 
completed by 18 persons and requires one hour. Usability testing will 
involve 18 persons and is estimated to take one and a half hours. Eight 
discussion groups with no more than 8 persons each will be held and 
will last for about 90 minutes. The total annual burden is estimated to 
be 147 hours.
    Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annual cost burden associated with 
the respondent time to participate in this evaluation. The total annual 
burden is estimated to be $7,454.

[[Page 13413]]

                                  Exhibit 1-- Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                        Maximum No. of    No. of responses  Maximum hours per     Total burden
           Interview type                respondents       per respondent        response            hours
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Screening Questionnaire.............                120                  1               3/60                  6
Needs Assessment....................                 18                  1                1.0                 18
Usability Testing...................                 18                  1                1.5                 27
Discussion Groups...................                 64                  1                1.5                 96
                                     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total...........................                120                 na                 na                147
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                                   Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
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                                        Maximum No. of      Total burden      Average hourly
           Interview type                respondents           hours           wage rate *     Total cost burden
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Screening Questionnaire.............                120                  6             $50.71               $304
Needs Assessment....................                 18                 18              50.71                913
Usability Testing...................                 18                 27              50.71              1,369
Discussion Groups...................                 64                 96              50.71              4,868
                                     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total...........................                120                147                 NA              7,454
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* The hourly wage for the participants across the four data collections (screening questionnaire, needs
  assessment interview, usability testing interviews, and discussion group interviews) is based upon the mean of
  the average hourly wages for Social science research assistants (19-4061; $19.39 per hour); Postsecondary
  Health Specialties Teachers (25-1071; $53.88 per hour); Management analysts (13-1111; $40.70 per hour);
  Computer and Information Systems Managers (11-3021; $58.00 per hour); Family and General Practitioners
  Teachers (29-1060; $81.03 per hour); Pharmacists (29-1051; $51.27 per hour). May 2009 National Occupational
  Employment and Wage Estimates, United States, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Division of Occupational
  Employment Statistics http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#29-0000.

Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal Government

    The estimated total cost to the Federal Government for this project 
is $411,641.00 over a two-year period from September 8, 2010 to 
September 7, 2012. The estimated average annual cost is $205,821. 
Exhibit 3 provides a breakdown of the estimated total and average 
annual costs by category.

 Exhibit 3--Estimated Total and Annual Cost * to the Federal Government
------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Cost component                Total cost      Annualized cost
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Project Management and                        $58,140            $29,070
 Coordination Activities..........
Evaluation Plan and Protocol                   44,908             22,454
 Development......................
OMB Submission Package............             12,362              6,181
Conduct Evaluation **.............            159,991             79,996
Data Analysis, Report and Briefing            118,081             59,041
Documentation and 508 Compliance..             18,159              9,080
                                   -------------------------------------
    Total.........................            411,641            205,821
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* Costs are fully loaded including overhead, G&A and fees.
** These activities include the data collections described in this
  submission.

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 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: March 2, 2011.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
Director.
[FR Doc. 2011-5401 Filed 3-10-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-M
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