[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 87 (Thursday, May 4, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25926-25928]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-10983]


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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 (AHRQ), formerly 
known as the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the Agency for Healthcare Research and 
Quality (AHRQ) intention to request the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) to allow a proposed information collection project: ``Development 
and Implementation of National guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) 
Evaluation''. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
Public law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), AHRQ invites the public to 
comment on this proposed information collection.
    This proposed information collection was previously published in 
the Federal Register on February 25, 2000 and allowed 60 days for 
public comment. No public comments were received.
    The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for 
public comment.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by June 5, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to the OMB Desk Officer 
at following address: Allison Eydt, Human Resources and Housing Branch, 
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, New Executive Office 
Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and included in the request for OMB approval of the proposed 
information collection. All comments will become a matter of public 
record.
    In accordance with the above cited legislation, comments on the 
AHRQ information collection proposal are requested with regard to any 
of the following: (a) whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of functions of the Agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the 
accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the burden (including hours and 
costs) of the proposed collection 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 on 
respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    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:  Cynthia D. McMichael, AHRQ Reports 
Clearance Officer, (301) 594-3132.

[[Page 25927]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposed Project

Development and Implementation of National Guideline Clearinghouse 
(NGC) Evaluation

    The NGC already reaches many individuals indicating its great 
potential to affect medical practice. In the nine months since it 
became available to the public, the NGC site has processed over 5 
million requests guideline information with an average user visit 
lasting seven minutes. Over the last six months, the ``hit volume'' 
(e.g. connection to the Internet site) has been fairly constant with 
approximately 36,000 per day. The majority of users are within the 
United States, but the site is also utilized globally, indicating the 
potential for far reaching effects.
    AS the NGC audience continues to grow and the field of best 
practices develops, the Web site will only be effective if it keeps 
pace with the needs of its users. A small study conducted by the 
American Medical Association (AMA) to gauge NGC awareness and 
satisfaction with the site among their members provides the only data 
to date on how the NGC is currently perceived by users. Although its 
conclusions were limited by a small sample size of physician 
respondents (e.g., n=44), the AMA survey suggested that several 
functions of the NGC could be improved. These findings support the need 
for a further, more comprehensive evaluation of the site's quality and 
usefulness in order for AHRQ to meet users' needs and to promote 
implementation of guidelines by health care professionals. The results 
of this type of evaluation will assist AHRQ and others to understand 
what users want and need to utilize clinical guidelines in the 
provision of care. The timeliness and need for this evaluation effort 
are further underscored by the development of a customer satisfaction 
survey by the NGC Web site developer pursuant to its original contract 
in accordance with widely accepted management practices. This 
electronic survey is designed to capture NGC audience satisfaction with 
the interface and format of the Web site and will complement this 
proposed evaluation of the content, quality, and usefulness of 
information.
    The NGC is intended to serve the needs of a diverse population of 
users. Not only are the user groups different, their expectations and 
uses of the NGC are unique. Moreover, no single sampling or data 
collection technique is sufficient to capture the needed information 
from these groups. A survey that attempted to capture the perspectives 
of all groups would be long, complicated, and burdensome.
    Therefore, we propose using a three-tiered data collection scheme 
designed to get distinct types of information in a manner most useful 
to helping evaluate how well the Web site is serving its intended 
populations. The three proposed approaches are survey questionnaire, 
focus group discussions, and unstructured, informational discussions. 
Each will be applied to a subset of all users, as appropriate, to 
capture their unique needs and complement the overall data collection 
effort.

Data Confidentiality Provisions

    Although no information on race, income, sexual behavior and 
attitudes, religious beliefs, or other matters commonly considered 
private will be requested, the contractor responsible for conducting 
the study will perform in accordance with the requirements of the 
Privacy Act, 5 USC 552a, and the Agency's confidentiality statute, 42 
USC 299c-3(c), to protect respondents' privacy and the confidentiality 
of data collected. All results will be reported without attributing 
responses to any individual source. Information gained for the purposes 
of this data collection will only be used for the purposes of this 
project.

Data Products

    The evaluation goals will be achieved through three types of data 
collection: (1) Written survey questionnaires, (2) focus groups, and 
(3) discussions with individuals working in health care who contribute 
to guideline development and use. Assignments of data collection modes 
to target audience groups are designed to reach the maximum number of 
respondents and the broadest range of groups. Participation will be 
minimally burdensome and is voluntary. Both qualitative and 
quantitative data will be collected to characterize the experiences and 
needs of users in a manner most likely to facilitate improvement 
activities by AHRQ.
    The project will benefit AHRQ, the medical community, policymakers, 
health service researchers, and ultimately patients in the following 
ways:
    <bullet> AHRQ will be able to monitor how their current format and 
content are serving their intended audiences;
    <bullet> AHRQ will be able to assess how the Clearinghouse is 
affecting future development of guidelines and their implementation in 
clinical practices;
    <bullet> AHRQ will be able to use the evaluation results to refine 
the site, thereby making it more useful for the medical community and 
other professionals who use guidelines in care management;
    <bullet> Individual clinicians will be better able to obtain timely 
guidance about the management of complex clinical problems;
    <bullet> Federal, State, and private purchasers will be better able 
to encourage contracted or prospective plans and providers to adopt 
clinical practices that are consistent with the best available 
standards of care; and
    <bullet> Public policy experts will be better able to obtain 
unbiased, evidence-based guidelines and information for decisionmaking 
and policy purposes.

Method of Collection

    Electronic mail will be used to transmit the written survey 
responses. The written survey will be also be linked to the NGC 
Website. Users can complete the survey on-line, and their responses 
will be automatically submitted. By using e-mail and the Web link to 
target our audience, we are ensuring that our respondents are Web-based 
users. This approach significantly reduces the burden to non-Web users 
who would be unable to contribute information useful to this data 
collection. Additionally, this use of information technology minimizes 
the burden on the targeted respondents by improving the ease with which 
they can submit their survey responses.

                                       Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
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                                                                Estimated time  Estimated total     Estimated
                 Annual number of respondents                   per respondent   annual burden    annual cost to
                                                                   (hours)           hours        the government
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1,359........................................................            0.25              408         $249,993
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[[Page 25928]]

    The survey instrument is short and poses minimal burden on the time 
of respondents. Estimates of time required to complete the survey 
during the pilot phase range from 7 to 20 minutes. The annual hour 
burden calculation assumes each survey will last 15 minutes, therefore 
the total of annualized hourly costs to participants is estimated to be 
$30,040.

John M. Eisenbert,
Director.
[FR Doc. 00-10983 Filed 5-3-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-M