Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 19 / Wednesday, January 29, 2014 / Notices 4721 

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, quality 

improvement and 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 16, 2014. 

Richard Kronick, 

AHRQ Director. 

[FR Doc. 2014–01709 Filed 1–28–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–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: 

‘‘SelectMD 2.0 Clinician Choice 

Experiment.’’ In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 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 March 31, 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 

SelectMD 2.0 Clinician Choice 

Experiment 

This study builds on previous 

research conducted as part of the 

Consumer Assessment of Healthcare 

Providers and Systems (CAHPS) 

program to explore new ways of 

integrating patient comments with other 

performance metrics in web-based 

quality reports for consumers to support 

their choice of physicians. Our previous 

consumer choice study, referred to as 

SelectMD 1.0 (approved by OMB on 3/ 

8/10 under OMB Control Number 0935– 

0161), revealed important risks and 

opportunities of using patient comments 

that require additional research in order 

to develop effective guidance for report 

sponsors. Sponsors of performance 

reports in both the public and private 

sectors, including Federal agencies such 

as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services (CMS), have indicated strong 

interest in receiving such guidance on 

strategies for effectively incorporating 

patient comments to increase 

consumers’ use of public reports and to 

enhance their ability to interpret CAHPS 

and other performance measures. 

This follow-on study (referred to as 

SelectMD 2.0) will use an experimental 

design to test different methods of 

incorporating patient comments along 

with CAHPS survey results, the 

Healthcare Effectiveness Data and 

Information Set (HEDIS)-like measures 

of effective clinical treatments, and 

indicators of patient safety in web-based 

physician quality reports. The study 

will help AHRQ understand how people 

choose a doctor as their regular source 

of medical care and advice. 

The study has three stages. In the first 

stage, respondents will be asked some 

questions about their health care 

experiences and how they go about 

choosing a doctor. In the second stage 

the respondents will log onto an 

experimental Web site that has 

information about a fictitious set of 

doctors from which to choose. 

Respondents will be asked to use the 

information on the Web site to select a 

doctor who they think would be the best 

for their health care needs. Although 

they will not really be selecting a 

doctor, they will be asked to consider 

the choice as carefully as if they were 

making it for themselves. In the third 

stage, following their selection of a 

doctor, respondents will answer a set of 

questions about how they made their 

choice of doctor, how useful they found 

the Web site, and how confident they 

were in the choice they made. 

This research has the following goals: 

(1) To expand on the findings from 

AHRQ’s previous choice experiment 

regarding how including narrative 

patient comments in web-based 

physician quality reports influences the 

ways in which consumers learn about 

and select among clinicians, and 

(2) to assess whether and how patient 

comments can be presented in a way 

that promotes learning about physician 

quality and complements rather than 

detracts from standardized measures of 

quality. 

This study is being conducted by 

AHRQ through its contractors, RAND 

and Yale University, 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 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 this project the 

following data collections will be 

implemented over the three stages of the 

experiment: 

(1) Pre-Choice Survey—The purpose 

of this survey is to measure the 

respondents’ previous exposure to 

information on health care provider 

performance and how they go about 

choosing a physician. 

(2) Experimental Web site—The 

purpose of this site is to present 

different combinations and displays of 

performance information that 

respondents will use to select a doctor. 

Respondents will be randomly assigned 

to one of eight different versions of the 

experimental SelectMD Web site that 

will vary according to the level of detail 

presented, how patient comments are 

grouped and labeled, whether 

respondents can choose which and how 

much information to review, and 

whether respondents have access to live 

telephone assistance when making their 

choices. 

(3) Post-Choice Survey—The purpose 

of the post-choice survey is to assess 

how respondents made their doctor 

selection, how useful the Web site 

version assigned to them was in helping 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
4722 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 19 / Wednesday, January 29, 2014 / Notices 

to make their choice, and how confident 

they are in the choice they made. 

Responses to the post-choice survey will 

provide insights into which of the 

experimental Web site versions are more 

effective in supporting consumer choice 

of doctors and why. 

The results of this study will be used 

to develop recommendations for helping 

consumers to better understand and 

more effectively use complex 

information to select health care 

providers, with the aim of making 

performance information less 

burdensome and more accessible, 

useful, and transparent to the public. In 

particular, the study findings will 

inform the design and content of the 

growing number of Web-based reports 

on provider performance incorporating 

patient comments along with other 

measures of quality. By adding to the 

evidence base on the types and 

combination of information that are 

most salient and useful to consumers in 

choosing among provider options, the 

study will make a significant 

contribution to improving current 

reporting initiatives. In addition, the 

simulated Web-based reports will be 

made available as examples for other 

report developers to use. 

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden 

Exhibit 1 shows the estimated 

annualized burden hours for the 

respondents’ time to participate in this 

experiment. The portion of the 

experiment involving respondent 

participation will take place over a 

period of approximately two months, 

once OMB approval has been received. 

All participants will complete the prechoice survey, which is estimated to 

take 10 minutes. To assess the impact of 

their exposure to the SelectMD Web 

site, several questions on the initial prechoice survey are replicated on the postchoice questionnaire. To reduce the 

likelihood that respondents will simply 

repeat the answers that they provided 

on the pre-choice survey (in an effort to 

appear consistent), it is essential to 

allow some time to elapse between the 

two surveys. Consequently, participants 

will not have access to the SelectMD 

Web site until one week after 

completing the pre-choice survey. Since 

we expect that about 5% of participants 

taking the pre-choice survey will not 

return to participate in the experiment 

one week later, the number of 

respondents initially required is 5% 

higher (1,575) than the full sample of 

1,500 required for the experiment. We 

estimate based on our previous 

experience with the SelectMD 1.0 

experiment that participants will 

require about 10 minutes to review the 

information on the Web site and select 

their preferred physician from the set of 

doctors available. The average time 

required to complete the post-choice 

survey is estimated to be 20 minutes. 

Consequently, respondents will average 

about 40 minutes completing all three 

phases of the study. 

Exhibit 2 shows the respondents’ cost 

burden for their time to participate in 

this experiment. The total cost burden is 

estimated to be $22,297. 

EXHIBIT 1—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Form name Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Hour per 

response 

(min/60) 

Total burdenhours 

Pre-Choice Survey ........................................................................................... 1575 1 10/60 263 

Time on Website (Choosing MD) .................................................................... 1500 1 10/60 250 

Post-Choice Survey ......................................................................................... 1500 1 20/60 500 

Total Hours .............................................................................................. 4,575 na na 1,013 

EXHIBIT 2—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN

Form name Number of 

respondents 

Total burden 

hours 

Average 

hourly wage 

rate * 

Total cost 

burden 

Pre-Choice Survey ........................................................................................... 1575 263 $22.01 $5,789 

Time on Website (Choosing MD) .................................................................... 1500 250 22.01 5,503 

Post-Choice Survey ......................................................................................... 1500 500 22.01 11,005 

Total Cost ................................................................................................ ........................ ........................ ........................ 22,297 

* Based upon the national mean hourly wage for all occupations from the ‘‘May 2012 Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates’’, U.S. 

Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

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 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 16, 2014. 

Richard Kronick, 

AHRQ Director. 

[FR Doc. 2014–01710 Filed 1–28–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–P 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES