65888 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 211 / Wednesday, October 31, 2012 / Notices 

Dated: October 25, 2012. 

Karen V. Gregory, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2012–26701 Filed 10–30–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6730–01–P 

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 

Change in Bank Control Notices; 

Acquisitions of Shares of a Bank or 

Bank Holding Company 

The notificants listed below have 

applied under the Change in Bank 

Control Act (12 U.S.C. 1817(j)) and 

§ 225.41 of the Board’s Regulation Y (12 

CFR 225.41) to acquire shares of a bank 

or bank holding company. The factors 

that are considered in acting on the 

notices are set forth in paragraph 7 of 

the Act (12 U.S.C. 1817(j)(7)). 

The notices are available for 

immediate inspection at the Federal 

Reserve Bank indicated. The notices 

also will be available for inspection at 

the offices of the Board of Governors. 

Interested persons may express their 

views in writing to the Reserve Bank 

indicated for that notice or to the offices 

of the Board of Governors. Comments 

must be received not later than 

November 15, 2012. 

A. Federal Reserve Bank of 

Minneapolis (Jacqueline G. King, 

Community Affairs Officer) 90 

Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, 

Minnesota 55480–0291: 

1. The Philip G. Amundson 2012 

Irrevocable Grantor Trust, Sioux Falls, 

South Dakota; Matt Amundson, Trustee, 

Hendricks, Minnesota; Angie Mixner, 

Trustee, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and 

Blair Folkens, Trustee, Brandson, South 

Dakota; all to join the Amundson 

Family Group, and thereby acquire 

voting shares of Beulah Bancorporation, 

Inc., Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and 

indirectly acquire voting shares of First 

Security Bank—West, Beulah, North 

Dakota, and Valley Bank and Trust, 

Mapleton, Iowa. 

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System, October 26, 2012. 

Robert deV. Frierson, 

Secretary of the Board. 

[FR Doc. 2012–26777 Filed 10–30–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6210–01–P 

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 

Formations of, Acquisitions by, and 

Mergers of Bank Holding Companies 

The companies listed in this notice 

have applied to the Board for approval, 

pursuant to the Bank Holding Company 

Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.) 

(BHC Act), Regulation Y (12 CFR part 

225), and all other applicable statutes 

and regulations to become a bank 

holding company and/or to acquire the 

assets or the ownership of, control of, or 

the power to vote shares of a bank or 

bank holding company and all of the 

banks and nonbanking companies 

owned by the bank holding company, 

including the companies listed below. 

The applications listed below, as well 

as other related filings required by the 

Board, are available for immediate 

inspection at the Federal Reserve Bank 

indicated. The applications will also be 

available for inspection at the offices of 

the Board of Governors. Interested 

persons may express their views in 

writing on the standards enumerated in 

the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1842(c)). If the 

proposal also involves the acquisition of 

a nonbanking company, the review also 

includes whether the acquisition of the 

nonbanking company complies with the 

standards in section 4 of the BHC Act 

(12 U.S.C. 1843). Unless otherwise 

noted, nonbanking activities will be 

conducted throughout the United States. 

Unless otherwise noted, comments 

regarding each of these applications 

must be received at the Reserve Bank 

indicated or the offices of the Board of 

Governors not later than November 26, 

2012. 

A. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 

(Glenda Wilson, Community Affairs 

Officer) P.O. Box 442, St. Louis, 

Missouri 63166–2034: 

1. Bank of the Ozarks, Inc., Little 

Rock, Arkansas; to acquire 100 percent 

of the voting shares of Genala Banc, Inc., 

and thereby indirectly acquire voting 

shares of Citizens Bank, both in Geneva, 

Alabama. 

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System, October 26, 2012 

Robert deV. Frierson, 

Secretary of the Board. 

[FR Doc. 2012–26776 Filed 10–30–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6210–01–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: ‘‘Using 

Health Information Technology in 

Practice Redesign: Impact of Health 

Information Technology on Workflow.’’ 

In accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501–3521, 

AHRQ invites the public to comment on 

this proposed information collection. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by December 31, 2012. 

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@AHRO.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project 

Using Health Information Technology in 

Practice Redesign: Impact of Health 

Information Technology on Workflow 

The Agency for Healthcare Research 

and Quality (AHRQ) is a lead Federal 

agency in developing and disseminating 

evidence and evidence-based tools on 

how health information technology (IT) 

can improve health care quality, safety, 

efficiency, and effectiveness. 

Health IT has the potential to improve 

the quality, safety, efficiency, and 

effectiveness of care. In particular, 

health IT can aid health care 

professionals in improving care delivery 

by redesigning care processes to be more 

effective and efficient (e.g., engaging 

care settings in practice redesign). The 

use of health IT to support practice 

redesign requires a deep understanding 

of the interaction between health IT and 

workflow, ideally through a human 

factors and socio-technical framework. 

Unfortunately, these health IT-workflow 

interactions are poorly understood and 

the research to date has largely focused 

on large academic medical centers and 

large health maintenance organizations, 

while the impact of health IT on 

workflow in smaller, ambulatory care 

practices is not well studied. 

To that end, AHRQ conducted an indepth study of existing research and 

evidence in the area of the impact of 

health IT on workflow, its linkage to 

clinician adoption, and its links to the 

safety, quality, efficiency, and 

effectiveness of care delivery. However, 

most of the articles found were not 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 211 / Wednesday, October 31, 2012 / Notices 65889 

focused directly on workflow, so the 

quality of evidence related to workflow 

change varied substantially. The 

majority of studies described research 

completed in large clinics affiliated with 

academic medical centers, health 

maintenance organizations or national 

health systems outside the U.S., limiting 

applicability to other settings, 

particularly small and medium-sized 

primary care and other ambulatory care 

settings. Also, most of the studies did 

not use a scientifically rigorous design. 

Finally, most of the literature did not 

include descriptions of the sociotechnical context of health IT 

implementations and use, making it 

difficult to understand the role of 

potentially conflating or mediating 

factors such as training, technical 

support, and organizational culture. 

These gaps and limitations of existing 

research study designs and findings 

related to health IT and workflow limit 

the relevance and quality of the 

available evidence for health care 

organizations wishing to effectively 

implement health IT systems to support 

current work without negatively 

affecting existing workflow processes. 

The existing evidence is of equally 

limited utility to those organizations 

seeking to use health IT systems to 

support redesign of their ambulatory 

care settings. 

The goal of the project is to 

understand the impact of implementing 

health IT-enabled care coordination on 

workflow within small communitybased primary care clinics in various 

stages of practice redesign. The focus of 

this study is the interaction of health IT 

and care coordination workflow in the 

context of practice redesign. This study 

will focus on clinic staff caring for 

patients with diabetes within small 

primary care clinics to understand 

enablers and barriers to care 

coordination workflow through the use 

of health IT. 

The study will be conducted over a 

14-month period in six Vanderbilt 

University Medical Center (VUMC) 

affiliated-clinics that each have an 

electronic health record (EHR) but are in 

different phases of introducing the 

health IT component of a care 

coordination redesign program called 

My Health Team (MHT). MHT was 

launched at Vanderbilt University 

Medical Center to redesign ambulatory 

care delivery for patients with three 

chronic conditions (diabetes, 

hypertension, and congestive heart 

failure) through intensified patient 

engagement, dedicated care 

coordinators, and specific health IT 

tools to facilitate scalable chronic 

disease management. The health IT 

component of MHT, layered on a mature 

EHR, enables (1) diabetes, hypertension 

and congestive heart failure registries, 

(2) a shared view of the care plan for the 

patient among clinical staff, (3) alerts 

and reminders to track patients’ acute 

care episodes, (4) closed-loop feedback 

of patient self-management through athome physiological monitoring and 

two-way electronic clinical messaging 

(via the patient portal), and (5) frequent 

patient contact with coordinators in 

between physician visits by telephone 

and using a secure patient portal. 

This study is intended to address 

existing gaps and generate findings of 

particular relevance to health IT and 

workflow by employing a mixedmethods, theoretically-grounded 

research design that focuses on the 

socio-technical factors in smaller, 

ambulatory care settings. 

Combining this formal approach with 

iterative observations and analysis 

across six clinics for 14 months will 

generate a detailed understanding of 

changes in health IT workflow 

interaction for each clinic over time, 

and across clinics in various 

implementation phases (pre-MHT, 

early-MHT, or mature-MHT). Each 

clinic will be observed at two time 

points: the first (time = 0 months) to 

capture baseline interactions, and the 

second (time = 12 months) to capture 

interactions later in adoption. Although 

each clinic will be observed over a 

period of 12 months, the total study 

period will span 14 months to allow for 

staggered observation windows for the 

clinics. All clinics are anticipated to 

exhibit changes to health IT-workflow 

interactions over time given that 

learning and efforts to streamline 

workflow at each practice are ongoing. 

The early-MHT clinics, engaged actively 

in practice redesign, will be observed at 

a third time point—midway between the 

first and second observation period— 

since more changes, and possibly more 

rapid changes in workflow and the use 

of health IT could occur. The 6-month 

interval between observation periods 

was chosen based on prior experience 

with MHT implementation in which 

many adoption changes occur during a 

3–5 month period during practice 

redesign. Thus, in clinics anticipated to 

experience slower change, an 

observation period of one year is 

anticipated to allow capture of 

workflow patterns that have occurred; 

in fast-changing clinics, a 6-month 

observation interval will improve 

capture of key interactions. 

This study is being conducted by 

AHRQ through its contractor, RTI 

International, pursuant to AHRQ’s 

statutory authority to conduct and 

support research on health care and on 

systems for the delivery of such care, 

including activities with respect to the 

quality, effectiveness, efficiency, 

appropriateness and value of health care 

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 activities will be carried out: 

(1) Project orientation meeting— 

Researchers will hold an orientation 

meeting for clinic staff to introduce 

them to the study. Up to ten staff 

members at each clinic will be asked to 

participate in the orientation meetings. 

During the orientation meeting, research 

staff will explain the purpose of the 

study, provide an overview of the study 

schedule, explain processes for 

recruiting individual clinic staff to 

participate, and answer any questions 

that clinic staff might have. 

(2) Direct observation by researchers 

of clinic staff performing care 

coordination activities with patients, 

caregivers, and providers to capture 

their workflow, health IT usage, and 

work processes. A total of 14 

observation periods will take place 

across the six clinics. Each site will 

have an initial observation period that 

occurs over several weeks, with an 

estimated 60 hours of observation time 

per site. The two sites in the early MHT 

phase of implementation will also have 

a middle observation period (at 6 

months), and all six sites will have a 

final observation period (at 12 months). 

The middle and final observation 

periods, which build on data gathered 

during the initial observation period, are 

shorter—approximately 30 hours of 

observation per site, because 

observations will be more targeted as a 

result of the previously collected 

contextual data. Observations will be 

recorded on the Direct Observation 

Field Notes Form. This data collection 

will not burden the clinic staff and is 

not included in the burden estimates in 

Exhibit 1. 

(3) Artifact and spatial data 

collection—Artifacts such as paper 

notes or forms, or reminder postcards 

identified by researchers during direct 

observations as relevant to 

understanding workflow and health IT, 

will be collected. 

Spatial data, such as still photographs 

of the workplace and/or objects in the 

workplace, will be collected to augment 

observation data. These will enable the 

researcher to capture spatial 

relationships and other dimensions, 

such as the proximity of work stations, 

exam rooms, and technology. For 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
65890 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 211 / Wednesday, October 31, 2012 / Notices 

example, a health IT tool may include 

the functionality to print information to 

give to the patient, but if the printer is 

not conveniently located for the user, 

busy clinic staff may choose not to use 

this function. An image or drawing of 

this spatial relationship can be included 

in the data and will be coded in the data 

analysis phase. The choice of using a 

photograph or a drawing will be 

dependent upon the type of information 

that is needed to better understand the 

context of the workflow. For example, to 

capture the overall configuration of the 

workspace, photographs will be taken. 

When other information such as process 

flows are being captured, the observer 

will draw a sketch of that process. This 

may include the steps that a nurse takes 

to retrieve a patient chart, call the 

patient from the waiting room, escort 

the patient to a station where vital signs 

are measured, and escort them to an 

exam room. 

Artifacts and spatial data will be used 

to enrich the understanding of the 

environment in which care coordination 

activities and health IT interact and will 

add information that is important for 

modeling workflow. This data collection 

will not burden the clinic staff and is 

not included in the burden estimates in 

Exhibit 1. 

(4) Semi-structured individual 

interviews and surveys with clinic staff 

to further understand their use of health 

information technology and work 

routines. During each observation 

period, up to six staff members at each 

clinic will be asked to participate in 

semi-structured interviews and to 

complete the Technology Assessment 

Model (TAM) survey. The interview 

will address up to five key topic areas: 

Demographics; general experience with 

technology; work routines; interactions 

with computers in the work context; 

and strategies for dealing with 

unanticipated health IT or workflow 

challenges. The survey will be used to 

consistently assess the staff attitudes 

that may impact their experience of 

using health IT and adapting workflow 

to their needs. 

(5) Semi-structured interviews and 

surveys with patients with diabetes to 

gather information from patients as 

participant-observers of clinical 

workflow and health IT, to understand 

the impact of work processes on their 

experience of care, and to identify 

enablers and barriers in clinic work 

processes from their perspective. During 

the initial observation period in each 

clinic, and during the final observation 

period in two of the clinics (early-MHT), 

eight patients with diabetes will be 

invited to participate in semi-structured 

interviews and to complete the Patient 

Activation Measure and Summary of 

Diabetes Self-Care Activities surveys (64 

patients total). Since fewer changes are 

anticipated in the pre-MHT and matureMHT clinics, patients will be 

interviewed at baseline only in these 

four clinics. Since the pre-MHT and 

mature-MHT clinics will not undergo 

changes in technology during the study 

period, it is anticipated that saturation 

of patient experiences and observations 

of workflow, technology use and 

interactions will occur during the initial 

observation period. Greater changes are 

anticipated at the early-MHT clinics as 

they adopt MHT, therefore, patient 

interviews will be conducted at these 

two clinics twice. The purpose of the 

patient interviews is to gather 

information from patients as 

participant-observers of clinical 

workflow and health IT, to understand 

the impact on their experience of care, 

and to identify enablers and barriers in 

work processes from their perspective. 

The interviews will address six key 

areas related to care coordination, 

including (1) general care experience; 

(2) patient workflow; (3) information 

needs; (4) barriers; (5) strategies; (6) 

evaluation. The Patient Activation 

Measure (PAM) and Summary of 

Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA) 

surveys will be used to understand 

patient motivation for self-care and the 

potential impact on care processes and 

workflows. 

The focus of this research is 

anticipated to be relevant to many other 

settings in which health IT is used to 

support care coordination activities for 

diabetes and other chronic conditions. 

This focus is especially important given 

the cost and illness burden of diabetes. 

Information collected by the study will 

help researchers and practitioners better 

understand the impact of workflow and 

health IT in ambulatory care practices. 

The lessons learned from this research 

may be used in a variety of ways: 1) to 

identify additional workflow 

components that ambulatory practices 

should consider when implementing 

health IT systems; 2) to identify issues 

to address in best practice guidelines 

health IT implementation; and 3) to 

identify issues for consideration in the 

design and evaluation of other health IT 

tools. 

The study findings will be widely 

disseminated to health IT researchers 

and implementers via AHRQ’s National 

Resource Center for Health IT Web site, 

email alerts, and conference 

presentations. 

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden 

Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annual 

burden hours for each respondent’s time 

to participate in this study. 

A total of up to 60 persons will 

participate in the project orientation 

meeting across the six clinics (up to 10 

per clinic), which will last up to 30 

minutes. 

The staff semi-structured interviews 

will be completed by a total of up to 36 

persons across the six clinics (up to 6 

per clinic) and requires one hour. Those 

same individuals will also be asked to 

complete Technology Acceptance 

Model surveys; each survey response is 

estimated to take 30 minutes. Clinic 

staff interviews and administration of 

surveys will take place at the clinics 

either two or three times. Staff 

interviews will be conducted twice at 

each of the pre-MHT and mature-MHT 

clinics, at the initial and final 

observation periods (eight total sets of 

interviews), for a total of up to 48 staff 

interviews. Staff interviews will be 

conducted three times at the two earlyMHT clinics, during the initial, middle, 

and final observation periods, for up to 

36 staff interviews across the two earlyMHT clinics for all observation periods. 

In total, up to 84 interviews of clinic 

staff will be conducted with up to 36 

individual staff for an average of 2.33 

responses per staff member, as shown in 

Exhibit 1. 

Up to 64 patients will be asked to 

participate in the patient-semi 

structured interview, which should take 

no longer than 1 hour. Those same 

patients will be asked to complete the 

Patient Activation Measures survey, 

which is estimated to take 12 minutes, 

and the Summary of Diabetes Self Care 

Activities survey, which should take no 

longer than 18 minutes. Patient 

interviews and surveys will take place 

at the clinics either once or twice. Up 

to eight patients will be interviewed 

during the initial observation period at 

each of the clinics for a total of 48 

patient interviews across all six clinics. 

Up to 8 patients will be interviewed 

during the final observation period at 

each of the two early-MHT clinics, for 

a total of 16 patient interviews during 

the final observation period across the 

two early-MHT clinics. In total, up to 64 

patient interviews and surveys will be 

conducted. The total annual burden is 

estimated to be 252 hours. 

Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annual 

cost burden associated with the 

respondents’ time to participate in this 

research. The total annual burden is 

estimated to be $6,670. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 211 / Wednesday, October 31, 2012 / Notices 65891 

EXHIBIT 1—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Form Name 

Maximum 

number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Hours per 

response 

Total burden 

hours 

Project orientation meeting .............................................................................. 60 1 30/60 30 

Staff Semi-Structured Interviews ..................................................................... 36 a 2.33 1 84 

Technology Acceptance Model Survey ........................................................... 36 a 2.33 30/60 42 

Patient Semi-Structured Interviews ................................................................. 64 1 1 64 

Patient Activation Measures Survey ................................................................ 64 1 12/60 13 

Summary of Diabetes Self Care Activities Survey .......................................... 64 1 18/60 19 

Total .......................................................................................................... 324 na na 252 

aThis is an average based on the study design and the number of interviews that respondents will complete. Two thirds of respondents will 

participate in two interviews. One third will participate in three interviews. 

EXHIBIT 2—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN

Form Name 

Maximum 

number of 

respondents 

Total burden 

hours 

Average 

hourly wage 

rate* 

Total cost 

burden 

Project orientation meeting .............................................................................. 60 30 $34.80 $1,044 

Staff Semi-Structured Interviews ..................................................................... 36 84 32.03 2,691 

Technology Acceptance Model Survey ........................................................... 36 42 32.03 1,345 

Patient Semi-Structured Interviews ................................................................. 64 64 16.57 1,060 

Patient Activation Measures Survey ................................................................ 64 13 16.57 215 

Summary of Diabetes Self Care Activities Survey .......................................... 64 19 16.57 315 

324 252 na 6,670 

* Based upon the mean of the average wages, a National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United States May 2011, ‘‘U.S. 

Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.’’ For the project orientation meeting, the hourly rate is a weighted average of two physicians or 

surgeons, all other ($88.78), two registered nurses ($33.32), two licensed practical nurses ($19.79), two medical assistants ($13.99), one health 

care support worker other ($14.80), and one health care practitioners and technician other ($21.61). For the interviews and surveys with clinic 

staff, hourly wage is an average including one physician or surgeon, all other ($88.78), one registered nurse ($33.32), one licensed practical 

nurse ($19.79), one medical assistant ($13.99), one health care support worker other ($14.80), and one health care practitioners and technician 

other ($21.61). For patient interviews and surveys, median U.S. hourly wage was used. 

Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal 

Government 

The total cost of this study is 

$799,929 over a 36-month time period 

for an annualized cost of $266,643. 

Exhibit 3 provides a breakdown of the 

estimated total and average annual costs 

by category. 

EXHIBIT 3—ESTIMATED TOTAL AND ANNUALIZED COST* 

Cost component Total 

cost 

Annualized 

cost 

Development of Research Plan ............................................................................................................................... $32,520 $10,840 

Development of Analysis Plan ................................................................................................................................. 24,028 8,009 

Compliance with PRA Requirements ...................................................................................................................... 21,252 7,084 

Conduct Research Study ......................................................................................................................................... 271,916 90,639 

Conduct Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................................ 279,009 93,003 

Develop Final Report of Findings ............................................................................................................................ 62,237 20,746 

Develop Presentation of Findings ........................................................................................................................... 28,670 9,557 

Project Administration .............................................................................................................................................. 58,976 19,659 

Coordination with Other AHRQ Offices and Contractors ........................................................................................ 15,195 5,065 

Ensure High Quality 508 Compliant Deliverables ................................................................................................... 6,125 2,042 

Total .................................................................................................................................................................. 799,929 266,643 

* Costs are fully loaded including overhead and G&A. 

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 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. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
65892 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 211 / Wednesday, October 31, 2012 / Notices 

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: October 12, 2012. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. 2012–26596 Filed 10–30–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE M 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality 

Notice of Meeting 

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research 

and Quality, HHS. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with section 10 

(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. 2), 

announcement is made of an Agency for 

Healthcare Research and Quality 

(AHRQ) Special Emphasis Panel (SEP) 

meeting on ‘‘AHRQ NATIONAL 

RESEARCH SERVICE AWARDS (NRSA) 

INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH 

TRAINING GRANTS (T32)’’. 

DATES: November 14–15, 2012 (Open on 

November 14 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. 

and closed for the remainder of the 

meeting). 

ADDRESSES: Gaithersburg Marriott, RIO, 

9751 Washingtonian Boulevard, 

Gaithersburg, MD 20878. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Anyone wishing to obtain a roster of 

members, agenda or minutes of the nonconfidential portions of this meeting 

should contact: Mrs. Bonnie Campbell, 

Committee Management Officer, Office 

of Extramural Research, Education and 

Priority Populations, AHRQ, 540 

Gaither Road, Room 2038, Rockville, 

Maryland 20850, Telephone: (301) 427– 

1554. 

Agenda items for this meeting are 

subject to change as priorities dictate. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A Special 

Emphasis Panel is a group of experts in 

fields related to health care research 

who are invited by the Agency for 

Healthcare Research and Quality 

(AHRQ), and agree to be available, to 

conduct on an as needed basis, 

scientific reviews of applications for 

AHRQ support. 

Individual members of the Panel do 

not attend regularly-scheduled meetings 

and do not serve for fixed terms or a 

long period of time. Rather, they are 

asked to participate in particular review 

meetings which require their type of 

expertise. 

Substantial segments of the SEP 

meeting referenced above will be closed 

to the public in accordance with the 

provisions set forth in 5 U.S.C. App. 2, 

section 10(d), 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(4), and 5 

U.S.C. 552b(c)(6). Grant applications for 

‘‘AHRQ NATIONAL RESEARCH 

SERVICE AWARDS (NRSA) 

INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH 

TRAINING GRANTS (T32)’’ are to be 

reviewed and discussed at this meeting. 

The grant applications and the 

discussions could disclose confidential 

trade secrets or commercial property 

such as patentable material, and 

personal information concerning 

individuals associated with the grant 

applications, the disclosure of which 

would constitute a clearly unwarranted 

invasion of personal privacy. 

Dated: October 12, 2012. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. 2012–26597 Filed 10–30–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality 

Patient Safety Organizations: 

Voluntary Relinquishment From PDR 

Secure, LLC 

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research 

and Quality (AHRQ), HHS. 

ACTION: Notice of Delisting. 

SUMMARY: The Patient Safety and 

Quality Improvement Act of 2005 

(Patient Safety Act), Public Law 109–41, 

42 U.S.C. 299b–21–b–26, provides for 

the formation of Patient Safety 

Organizations (PSOs), which collect, 

aggregate, and analyze confidential 

information regarding the quality and 

safety of health care delivery. The 

Patient Safety and Quality Improvement 

Final Rule (Patient Safety Rule), 42 CFR 

Part 3, authorizes AHRQ, on behalf of 

the Secretary of HHS, to list as a PSO 

an entity that attests that it meets the 

statutory and regulatory requirements 

for listing. A PSO can be ‘‘delisted’’ by 

the Secretary if it is found no longer to 

meet the requirements of the Patient 

Safety Act and Patient Safety Rule, or 

when a PSO chooses to voluntarily 

relinquish its status as a PSO for any 

reason. AHRQ has accepted a 

notification of voluntary relinquishment 

from PDR Secure, LLC of its status as a 

PSO, and has delisted the PSO 

accordingly. 

DATES: The directories for both listed 

and delisted PSOs are ongoing and 

reviewed weekly by AHRQ. The 

delisting was effective at 12:00 Midnight 

ET (2400) on August 31, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Both directories can be 

accessed electronically at the following 

HHS Web site: http:// 

www.pso.AHRQ.gov/index.html. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Eileen Hogan, Center for Quality 

Improvement and Patient Safety, AHRQ, 

540 Gaither Road, Rockville, MD 20850; 

Telephone (toll free): (866) 403–3697; 

Telephone (local): (301) 427–1111; TTY 

(toll free): (866) 438–7231; TTY (local): 

(301) 427–1130; Email: 

pso@AHRQ.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Patient Safety Act authorizes the 

listing of PSOs, which are entities or 

component organizations whose 

mission and primary activity is to 

conduct activities to improve patient 

safety and the quality of health care 

delivery. 

HHS issued the Patient Safety Rule to 

implement the Patient Safety Act. 

AHRQ administers the provisions of the 

Patient Safety Act and Patient Safety 

Rule (PDF file, 450 KB. PDF Help) 

relating to the listing and operation of 

PSOs. The Patient Safety Rule 

authorizes AHRQ to list as a PSO an 

entity that attests that it meets the 

statutory and regulatory requirements 

for listing. A PSO can be ‘‘delisted’’ if 

it is found no longer to meet the 

requirements of the Patient Safety Act 

and Patient Safety Rule, or when a PSO 

chooses to voluntarily relinquish its 

status as a PSO for any reason. Section 

3.108(d) of the Patient Safety Rule 

requires AHRQ to provide public notice 

when it removes an organization from 

the list of federally approved PSOs. 

AHRQ has accepted a notification 

from PDR Secure, LLC, PSO number 

P0098, which is a component entity of 

PDR Network, LLC, to voluntarily 

relinquish its status as a PSO. 

Accordingly, PDR Secure, LLC was 

delisted effective at 12:00 Midnight ET 

(2400) on August 31, 2012. PDR 

Network, LLC represents that it has 

patient safety work product (PSWP) in 

its possession. The PSO is obligated to 

meet the requirements of section 

3.108(c)(2)(i) of the Patient Safety Rule 

to notify the sources from which it 

received PSWP of the PSO’s intention to 

cease PSO operations and activities, to 

relinquish voluntarily its status as a 

PSO, to request that these other entities 


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