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[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 26 (Friday, February 7, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7456-7457]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-02170]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Scientific Information Request on Public Reporting of Cost 
Measures in Health

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), HHS.

ACTION: Request for scientific information submissions.

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SUMMARY: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is 
seeking scientific information submissions from the public on public 
reporting of cost measures in health. Scientific information is being 
solicited to inform our technical brief on Public Reporting of Cost 
Measures in Health, which is currently being conducted by the Evidence-
based Practice Centers for the AHRQ Effective Health Care Program. 
Access to published and unpublished pertinent scientific information on 
public reporting of cost measures in health will improve the quality of 
this technical brief. AHRQ is conducting this technical brief pursuant 
to Section 1013 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and 
Modernization Act of 2003, Public Law 108-173, and Section 902(a) of 
the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 299a(a).

DATES: Submission Deadline on or before March 10, 2014.

ADDRESSES:
    Online submissions: http://effectivehealthcare.AHRQ.gov/index.cfm/submit-scientific-information-packets/. Please select the study for 
which you are submitting information from the list to upload your 
documents.
    Email submissions: /src.org">src.org">SIPS@epc-src.org.
    Print submissions:
    Mailing Address: Portland VA Research Foundation, Scientific 
Resource Center, ATTN: Scientific Information Packet Coordinator, PO 
Box 69539, Portland, OR 97239.
    Shipping Address (FedEx, UPS, etc.): Portland VA Research 
Foundation, Scientific Resource Center, ATTN: Scientific Information 
Packet Coordinator, 3710 SW U.S. Veterans Hospital Road, Mail Code: R&D 
71, Portland, OR 97239.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robin Paynter, Research Librarian, 
Telephone: 503-220-8262 ext. 58652 or Email: /src.org">src.org">SIPS@epc-src.org.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Agency for Healthcare Research and 
Quality has commissioned the Effective Health Care (EHC) Program 
Evidence-based Practice Centers to complete a technical brief of the 
evidence for Public Reporting of Cost Measures in Health.
    The EHC Program is dedicated to identifying as many studies as 
possible that are relevant to the questions for each of its technical 
briefs. In order to do so, we are supplementing the usual manual and 
electronic database searches of the literature by requesting 
information from the public (e.g., details of studies conducted). We 
are looking for studies that report on public reporting of cost 
measures in health, including those that describe adverse events. The 
entire research protocol, including the key questions, is also 
available online at: http://effectivehealthcare.AHRQ.gov/ehc/products/562/1838/public-reporting-cost-measures-protocol-140113.pdf
    This notice is to notify the public that the EHC program would find 
the following information on public reporting of cost measures in 
health helpful:
    [ssquf] A list of completed studies your organization has sponsored 
for this indication. In the list, indicate whether results are 
available on ClinicalTrials.gov along with the ClinicalTrials.gov trial 
number.
    [ssquf] For completed studies that do not have results on 
ClinicalTrials.gov, a summary, including the following elements: Study 
number, study period, design, methodology, indication and diagnosis, 
proper use instructions, inclusion and exclusion criteria, primary and 
secondary outcomes, baseline characteristics, number of patients 
screened/eligible/enrolled/lost to follow-up/withdrawn/analyzed, 
effectiveness/efficacy, and safety results.
     A list of ongoing studies your organization has sponsored 
for this indication. In the list, please provide the ClinicalTrials.gov 
trial number or, if the trial is not registered, the protocol for the 
study including a study number, the study period, design, methodology, 
indication and diagnosis, proper use instructions, inclusion and 
exclusion criteria, and primary and secondary outcomes.
    [ssquf] Description of whether the above studies constitute ALL 
Phase II and above clinical trials sponsored by your organization for 
this indication and an index outlining the relevant information in each 
submitted file.
    Your contribution is very beneficial to the Program. The contents 
of all submissions will be made available to the public upon request. 
Materials submitted must be publicly available or can be made public. 
Materials that are considered confidential; marketing materials; study 
types not included in the review; or information on indications not 
included in the review cannot be used by the Effective Health Care 
Program. This is a voluntary request for information and all costs for 
complying with this request must be borne by the submitter.
    The draft of this review will be posted on AHRQ's EHC program Web 
site and available for public comment for a period of 4 weeks. If you 
would like to be notified when the draft is posted, please sign up for 
the email list at: http://effectivehealthcare.AHRQ.gov/index.cfm/join-the-email-list1/.
    The technical brief will answer the following questions. This 
information is provided as background. AHRQ is not requesting that the 
public provide answers to these questions. The entire research 
protocol, is also available online at: http://effectivehealthcare.AHRQ.gov/ehc/products/562/1838/public-reporting-cost-measures-protocol-140113.pdf
    1. What measures of costs about healthcare providers and facilities 
have been publicly reported?
    a. Who produces these reports and where are they available?
    b. For what facilities are costs reported?
    c. At what level are these data aggregated (e.g. provider, 
facility, etc.)?
    d. How are the cost data reported (e.g., dollar amounts, symbols, 
graphs etc.)?
    e. How are the costs of providers/facilities compared (e.g., how 
many facilities, regional verses national comparisons etc.)?
    2. Are the measures of costs that are being reported consumer 
centered?
    a. How are consumers instructed to use the data?
    b. What techniques are used to guide consumers to interpret the 
data appropriately?

[[Page 7457]]

    c. Is there evidence that the data is used by consumers?
    d. Is the data relevant to consumers making healthcare decisions?
    e. Is the data easily accessible and presented in a consumer 
friendly way?
    3. What are the intended and unintended consequences of consumers' 
use of public-reported cost data?
    a. Do consumers find the public reporting of cost measures relevant 
and are consumers satisfied with the experience?
    b. Does the public reporting of cost measures impact (or have the 
potential to impact) consumers' decisions or behaviors?
    c. What are the potential unintended consequences of public 
reporting of cost measures?
    d. Are there key research gaps and needs for future research?

    Dated: January 24, 2014.
Richard Kronick,
AHRQ Director.
[FR Doc. 2014-02170 Filed 2-6-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-P
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