Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 180 / Friday, September 17, 2010 / Notices 57033 

Send comments to Summer King, 

SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, 

Room 7–1044, One Choke Cherry Road, 

Rockville, MD 20857 and e-mail a copy 

to summer.king@samhsa.hhs.gov. 

Written comments should be received 

within 60 days of this notice. 

Dated: September 10, 2010. 

Elaine Parry, 

Director, Office of Management, Technology 

and Operations. 

[FR Doc. 2010–23207 Filed 9–16–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4162–20–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: 

‘‘Evaluation of the National Guideline 

Clearinghouse.’’ In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 

3501–3520, AHRQ invites the public to 

comment on this proposed information 

collection. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by November 16, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz, 

Reports Clearance Officer, AHIRQ, 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 

e-mail at 

doris.lefkowitz@AHRO.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project 

Evaluation of the National Guideline 

Clearinghouse 

The mission of the Agency for 

Healthcare Research and Quality 

(AHRQ) is to enhance the quality, 

appropriateness, and effectiveness of 

Health services, and access to such 

services, through the establishment of a 

broad base of scientific research and 

through the promotion of improvements 

in clinical and health system practices, 

including the prevention of diseases and 

other health conditions. 42 U.S.C. 

299(b). AHRQ supports the 

dissemination of evidence-based 

guidelines through its National 

Guideline ClearinghouseTM (NGC). 

The NGC serves as a publicly 

accessible Web-based database of 

evidence-based clinical practice 

guidelines meeting explicit criteria. The 

NGC also supports AHRQ’s strategic 

goal on effectiveness: to improve health 

care outcomes by encouraging the use of 

evidence to make informed health care 

decisions. The NGC is a vehicle for such 

encouragement. The mission of the NGC 

is to provide physicians, nurses, and 

other health professionals, health care 

providers, health plans, integrated 

delivery systems, purchasers and others 

an accessible mechanism for obtaining 

objective, detailed information on 

clinical practice guidelines and to 

further their dissemination, 

implementation and use. 

AHRQ proposes to conduct a 

comprehensive evaluation of the NGC. 

This evaluation will build on the site 

trends AHIRQ has already identified, 

including growth from 70,000 to 

700,000 visits per month, 600 to 

approximately 40,000 e-mail 

subscribers, 250 to 2,370 guidelines 

represented, and 50 to nearly 300 

participating guideline developer 

organizations from July 1999 to July 

2009. 

The objectives of the NGC evaluation 

are to gain a better understanding of 

how: 

• The NGC is used. 

• The NGC supports dissemination of 

evidence-based clinical practice 

guidelines and related documents. 

• The NGC has influenced efforts in 

guideline development and guideline 

implementation and use. 

• The NGC can be improved. 

This study is being conducted by 

AHRQ through its contractor, AFYA, 

Inc. and The Lewin Group (AFYA/ 

Lewin), pursuant to AJ4RQ’s statutory 

authority to conduct and support 

research and disseminate information 

on healthcare and on systems for the 

delivery of such care, including 

activities with respect to clinical 

practice. 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(4). 

Method of Collection 

To achieve the objectives of this 

project the following data collections 

will be implemented: 

(1) NGC evaluation survey—a webbased survey administered to a 

convenience sample of both users and 

non-users of the NGC, 

(2) Focus groups—conducted with 

guideline developers, medical 

librarians, informatics specialists, 

clinicians, and students, and 

(3) Key informant interviews—inperson interviews conducted with 

influential individuals in medical 

societies, health plans, and quality 

improvement organizations as well as 

medical librarians, researchers, and 

informatics specialists who produce, 

use, and disseminate guidelines. 

Questions in the survey, focus group, 

and key informant discussion guides 

will focus on the effectiveness of NGC 

in areas of dissemination, 

implementation, and use of evidencebased clinical practice guidelines, and 

relative to other available guideline 

sources. For example, measures to be 

gathered through the instruments 

include the level of trust of the NGC, the 

use of the NGC relative to other 

guideline sources, and the influence of 

the NGC on various stakeholder groups. 

In addition, the instruments will be 

used to measure the use of other 

guideline resources which are used by 

non-NGC users. 

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden 

Exhibit 1 shows the estimated 

annualized burden hours for the 

respondents’ time to participate in this 

evaluation. The NGC evaluation 

questionnaire will be completed by 

approximately 40,220 persons and will 

require 10 minutes to complete for users 

of the NGC and about 2 minutes for nonusers. For the purpose of calculating 

respondent burden an average of 8 

minutes is used and reflects a mix of 

users and non-users with most 

respondents expected to be users. 

Eleven different focus groups 

consisting of 9 persons each will be 

conducted and are expected to last 90 

minutes each. Key informant interviews 

will be conducted with 30 individuals 

and will last about 60 minutes. The total 

annual burden hours are estimated to be 

5,542 hours. 

Exhibit 2 shows the estimated 

annualized cost burden based on the 

respondents’ time to participate in this 

project. The total annual cost burden is 

estimated to be $185,712. 


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57034 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 180 / Friday, September 17, 2010 / Notices 

EXHIBIT 1—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Data collection method Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Hours per 

response 

Total burden 

hours 

NGC Evaluation Survey ................................................................. 40,220 1 8/60 5,363 

Focus Groups ................................................................................ 99 1 1 .5 149 

Key Informant Interviews ............................................................... 30 1 1 30 

Total ........................................................................................ 40,349 NA NA 5,542 

EXHIBIT 2—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN

Data collection method Number of 

respondents 

Total burden 

hours 

Average hourly 

wage rate* Total cost burden 

NGC Evaluation Survey ................................................................... 40,220 5,363 $33.51 $179,714 

Focus Groups .................................................................................. 99 149 33.51 4,993 

Key Informant Interviews ................................................................. 30 30 33.51 1,005 

Total .......................................................................................... 40,349 5,542 NA 185,712 

* Based upon the mean of the average wages for healthcare practitioner and technical occupations (29–0000) presented in the National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United States, May 2009, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal 

Government 

Exhibit 3 shows the estimated total 

and annualized cost to the government 

for this one year project. The total cost 

is estimated to be $350,000 to conduct 

the one-time survey, 11 focus groups, 

and 30 key informant interviews and to 

analyze and present their results. This 

amount is the contract total for AFYA’s 

contract with AHRQ to evaluate the 

NGC. This amount includes the costs for 

project development and management 

($70,000 or 20% of the entire contract 

amount); data collection activities 

($105,000 or 30% of the entire contract 

amount); data processing and analysis 

($70,000 or 20% of the entire contract 

amount); and administrative support 

activities and reporting ($105,000 or 

30% of the entire contract amount). 

EXHIBIT 3—ESTIMATED TOTAL AND ANNUALIZED COST

Cost component Total cost Annualized cost 

Project Development and Management .......................................................................................................... $70,000 $70,000 

Data Collection Activities ................................................................................................................................. 105,000 105,000 

Data Processing and Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 70,000 70,000 

Administrative Support and Reporting ............................................................................................................. 105,000 105,000 

Total .......................................................................................................................................................... 350,000 350,000 

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 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: September 1, 2010. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. 2010–23110 Filed 9–16–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Administration for Children and 

Families 

Proposed Information Collection 

Activity; Comment Request 

Proposed Projects 

Title: State Personal Responsibility 

Education Program (PREP). 

OMB No.: 0970–0380. 

Description: The Patient Protection 

and Affordable Care Act, 2010, also 

known as health care reform, amends 

Title V of the Social Security Act (42 

U.S.C. 701 et seq.) as amended by 

sections 2951 and 2952(c), by adding 

section 513, authorizing the Personal 

Responsibility Education Program 

(PREP). The President signed into law 

the Patient Protection and Affordable 

Care Act on March 23, 2010, Public Law 

111–148, which adds the new PREP 


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