[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 234 (Wednesday, December 6, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70777-70778]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-9548]


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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, Department of 
Health and Human Services.

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) allow the proposed information collection 
project: ``Pilot Study of Proposed Medical Office Surveys on Patient 
Safety.'' 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.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by February 5, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz, 
Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, 540 Gaither Road, Room 5036, 
Rockville, MD 20850. Copies of the proposed collection plans, data 
collection instruments, and specific details on the estimated burden 
can be obtained from AHRQ's Reports Clearance Officer.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ, Reports 
Clearance Officer, (301) 427-1477.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 70778]]

Proposed Project

Pilot Study of Proposed Medical Office Surveys on Patient Safety

    This activity is an expansion and refinement of AHRQ's Hospital 
Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) which was developed and 
released to the public for use in November 2004. Two new surveys are 
proposed to assess patient safety culture in outpatient medical office 
settings: One for clinicians (physicians, physician assistants, and 
nurse practitioners who diagnose, prescribe for, and treat patients) 
and one for medical office staff (all other non-clinician staff). The 
proposed new surveys will be based on the HSOPSC but also contain new 
and revised items as well as dimensions that are more applicable to the 
outpatient medical office setting. The two proposed surveys will 
contain some items that are the same and some item that are unique to 
each survey.
    The instruments will be pilot tested with clinicians and staff 
working in 97 outpatient medical offices. The data collected will be 
analyzed to determine the psychometric properties of each survey's 
items and dimensions and provide information for the revision and 
shortening of the final surveys based on an assessment of their 
reliability and construct validity. The final surveys will be made 
publicly available to enable outpatient medical offices to assess 
patient safety culture from the perspectives of their clinicians and 
staff. The surveys can be used by outpatient medical offices to 
identify areas for patient safety culture improvement.

Methods of Collection

    A purposive sample of 97 outpatient medical offices will be 
recruited and selected. These medical offices will represent a 
distribution of single-specialty offices (of various types) and multi-
specialty offices, and will vary by office size (based on number of 
physicians in the office), as well as geographic region of the United 
States. Recruited medical offices will be allocated to each category in 
numbers roughly proportionate to the national distribution of offices 
in each category.
    All clinicians in each medical office will be asked to respond to 
the clinician survey and all other non-clinician staff will be asked to 
complete the medical office staff survey. Since not all medical office 
staff have access to email or the internet, paper surveys will be 
administered. Standard non-response follow-up techniques such as 
reminder postcards and distribution of a second survey will be used. 
Individuals and organizations contacted will be assured of the 
confidentiality of their replies under Section 924(c) of the Healthcare 
Research and Quality Act of 1999.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Paper surveys will be distributed to a total of approximately 2,340 
individuals from 97 medical offices (about 592 clinicians and 1,748 
medical office staff), with a target response rate of 70%, or 1,638 
completed surveys (414 completed clinician surveys and 1,224 medical 
office staff surveys). Respondents should take approximately 15 minutes 
to complete either survey. Therefore, we estimate that the total 
respondent burden for completing the survey will be 410 hours (414 
completed clinician surveys multiplied by 0.25 hours per survey or 104 
hours; and 1,224 completed medical office staff surveys multiplied by 
0.25 hours per survey or 306 hours).

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                                                                                                     Estimated
                                                     Number of       Number of    Estimated time       total
               Type of respondent                   respondents    responses per  per respondent    respondent
                                                                    respondent        (hours)      burden hours
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Clinicians......................................             414               1            0.25             104
Medical office staff............................           1,224               1            0.25             306
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................           1,638  ..............  ..............             410
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Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal Government

    The total cost to the Government for developing the clinician 
survey is approximately $257,000, and for the medical office staff 
survey is approximately $268,000. These estimates include the costs of 
background literature reviews, survey development, cognitive testing, 
pilot data collection, data analysis, and preparation of final 
deliverables and reports.

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 and health care 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: November 21, 2006.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
Director.
[FR Doc. 06-9548 Filed 12-5-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-M