Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 75 / Thursday, April 18, 2013 / Notices 23261 

to adult health care (for example, 

preparation readiness or evaluation of 

transfer). The survey development team 

is looking for items for which young 

adults or their parent proxies are 

generally the best or only judge; for 

example, the young adult or parent 

proxy can best say if the provider spent 

sufficient time with them or explained 

things in ways they could understand. 

Existing instruments that have been 

tested should have a high degree of 

reliability and validity; and evidence of 

wide use will be helpful. 

Dated: April 8, 2013. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

AHRQ Director. 

[FR Doc. 2013–08937 Filed 4–17–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality 

Solicitation for Nominations for 

Members of the U.S. Preventive 

Services Task Force (USPSTF) 

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research 

and Quality (AHRQ), HHS. 

ACTION: Solicits nominations for new 

members of USPSTF. 

SUMMARY: The Agency for Healthcare 

Research and Quality (AHRQ) invites 

nominations of individuals qualified to 

serve as members of the U.S. Preventive 

Services Task Force (USPSTF). 

DATES: All nominations submitted in 

writing or electronically will be 

considered for appointment to the 

USPSTF. Nominations must be received 

by May 15th of a given year to be 

considered for appointment to begin in 

January of the following year. 

Arrangement for Public Inspection 

Nominations and applications are 

kept on file at the Center for Primary 

Care, Prevention, and Clinical 

Partnerships, AHRQ, and are available 

for review during business hours. AHRQ 

does not reply to individual 

nominations, but considers all 

nominations in selecting members. 

Information regarded as private and 

personal, such as a nominee’s social 

security number, home and email 

addresses, home telephone and fax 

numbers, or names of family members 

will not be disclosed to the public (in 

accord with the Freedom of Information 

Act, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(6); 45 CFR 5.67). 

ADDRESSES: Submit your responses 

either in writing or electronically to: 

Robert Cosby, ATTN: USPSTF 

Nominations, Center for Primary Care, 

Prevention, and Clinical Partnerships, 

Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, 

Maryland 20850, USPSTFmember

nominations@ahrq.hhs.gov. 

Nomination Submissions 

Nominations may be submitted in 

writing or electronically, but must 

include: 

(1) The applicant’s current curriculum 

vitae and contact information, including 

mailing address, email address, and 

telephone number, and 

(2) a letter explaining how this 

individual meets the qualification 

requirements and how he/she would 

contribute to the USPSTF. The letter 

should also attest to the nominee’s 

willingness to serve as a member of the 

USPSTF. 

AHRQ will later ask persons under 

serious consideration for USPSTF 

membership to provide detailed 

information that will permit evaluation 

of possible significant conflicts of 

interest. Such information will concern 

matters such as financial holdings, 

consultancies, and research grants or 

contracts. 

Nominee Selection 

Appointments to the USPSTF will be 

made on the basis of qualifications as 

outlined below (see Qualification 

Requirements) and the current expertise 

needs of the USPSTF. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robert Cosby at USPSTFmember

nominations@ahrq.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Under Title IX of the Public Health 

Service Act, AHRQ is charged with 

enhancing the quality, appropriateness, 

and effectiveness of health care services 

and access to such services. 42 U.S.C. 

299(b). AHRQ accomplishes these goals 

through scientific research and 

promotion of improvements in clinical 

practice, including clinical prevention 

of diseases and other health conditions, 

and improvements in the organization, 

financing, and delivery of health care 

services. See 42 U.S.C. 299(b). 

The USPSTF, an independent body of 

experts in prevention and evidencebased medicine, works to improve the 

health of all Americans by making 

evidence-based recommendations about 

the effectiveness of clinical preventive 

services and health promotion. The 

recommendations made by the USPSTF 

address clinical preventive services for 

adults and children, and include 

screening tests, counseling services, and 

preventive medications. 

The USPSTF was first established in 

1984 under the auspices of the U.S. 

Public Health Service. Currently, the 

USPSTF is convened by the Director of 

AHRQ, and AHRQ provides ongoing 

administrative, research and technical 

support for the USPSTF’s operation. 

USPSTF members serve for four year 

terms. New members are selected each 

year to replace those members who are 

completing their appointments. 

The USPSTF is charged with 

rigorously evaluating the effectiveness, 

cost-effectiveness and appropriateness 

of clinical preventive services and 

formulating or updating 

recommendations regarding the 

appropriate provision of preventive 

services. See 42 U.S.C. 299b–4(a)(1). 

AHRQ is charged with supporting the 

dissemination of USPSTF 

recommendations. In addition to hard 

copy materials (that may be obtained 

from the AHRQ Publications 

Clearinghouse), current USPSTF 

recommendations and associated 

evidence reviews are available on the 

Internet (www.uspreventiveservices

taskforce.org). 

USPSTF members meet three times a 

year for two days in the Washington, DC 

area. A significant portion of the 

USPSTF’s work occurs between 

meetings during conference calls and 

via email discussions. Member duties 

include prioritizing topics, designing 

research plans, reviewing and 

commenting on systematic evidence 

reviews of evidence, discussing and 

making recommendations on 

preventive-services, reviewing 

stakeholder comments, drafting final 

recommendation documents, and 

participating in workgroups on specific 

topics and methods. Members can 

expect to receive frequent emails, can 

expect to participate in multiple 

conference calls each month, and can 

expect to have periodic interaction with 

stakeholders. AHRQ estimates that 

members devote approximately 200 

hours a year outside of in-person 

meetings to their USPSTF duties. The 

members are all volunteers and do not 

receive any compensation beyond 

support for travel to in person meetings. 

Nominated individuals will be 

selected for the USPSTF on the basis of 

their qualifications (in particular, those 

that address the required qualifications, 

outlined below) and the current 

expertise needs of the USPSTF. It is 

anticipated that three to four 

individuals will be invited to serve on 

the USPSTF beginning in January 2014. 

All individuals will be considered; 

however, strongest consideration will be 


sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
23262 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 75 / Thursday, April 18, 2013 / Notices 

given in 2014 to individuals with 

demonstrated training and expertise in 

the areas of behavioral medicine, 

internal medicine, nursing, obstetrics/ 

gynecology and pediatrics. AHRQ will 

retain and may consider nominations 

received this year and not selected 

during this cycle for future vacancies. 

To obtain a diversity of perspectives, 

AHRQ particularly encourages 

nominations of women, members of 

minority populations, and persons with 

disabilities. Interested individuals can 

self nominate. Organizations and 

individuals may nominate one or more 

persons qualified for membership on the 

USPSTF at any time. Individuals 

nominated prior to May 15, 2012, who 

continue to have interest in serving on 

the USPSTF, should be re-nominated. 

Qualification Requirements: To 

qualify for the USPSTF and support its 

mission, an applicant or nominee must, 

at a minimum, demonstrate knowledge, 

expertise and national leadership in the 

following areas: 

1. The critical evaluation of research 

published in peer reviewed literature 

and in the methods of evidence review; 

2. Clinical prevention, health 

promotion and primary health care; and 

3. Implementation of evidence-based 

recommendations in clinical practice 

including at the clinician-patient level, 

practice level, and health system level. 

Some USPSTF members without 

primary health care clinical experience 

may be selected based on their expertise 

in methodological issues such as metaanalysis, analytic modeling or clinical 

epidemiology. For individuals with 

clinical expertise in primary health care, 

additional qualifications in 

methodology would enhance their 

candidacy. 

Additionally, the Task Force benefits 

from members with expertise in the 

following areas: 

• Public health 

• Health equity and the reduction of 

health disparities 

• Application of science to health 

policy 

• Communication of scientific 

findings to multiple audiences 

including health care professionals, 

policy makers and the general public. 

Candidates with experience and skills 

in any of these areas should highlight 

them in their nomination materials. 

Applicants must have no substantial 

conflicts of interest, whether financial, 

professional, or intellectual, that would 

impair the scientific integrity of the 

work of the USPSTF and must be 

willing to complete regular conflict of 

interest disclosures. 

Applicants must have the ability to 

work collaboratively with a team of 

diverse professionals who support the 

mission of the USPSTF. Applicants 

must have adequate time to contribute 

substantively to the work products of 

the USPSTF. 

Dated: April 8, 2013. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. 2013–08935 Filed 4–17–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Administration for Children and 

Families 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

Title: Descriptive Study of County 

versus State Administered Temporary 

Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) 

Programs. 

OMB No.: New Collection. 

Description: The Administration for 

Children and Families (ACF) is 

proposing an information collection 

activity as part of the Descriptive Study 

of County and State Administered 

TANF Programs. The proposed 

information collection consists of semistructured interviews with key County 

and State staff on questions of county 

TANF administration, policies, service 

delivery, and program context. Through 

this information collection, ACE seeks 

to gain an in-depth, systematic 

understanding of the differences in 

program implementation, operations, 

outputs and outcomes between state and 

county administered TANF programs, 

and identify special technical assistance 

needs of state supervised, county 

administered programs. 

Respondents: Semi-structured 

interviews will be held with state and 

county TANF administrators and staff. 

ANNUAL BURDEN ESTIMATES

Instrument 

Annual 

Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Average burden 

hours per 

response 

Annual burden 

hours 

State TANF administrators discussion guide ................................................ 6 1 1 6 

State human service department director discussion guide ......................... 6 1 1 6 

County TANF administrators discussion guide ............................................. 12 1 1 .5 18 

County executives discussion guide ............................................................. 12 1 1 12 

County TANF directors’ associations discussion guide ................................ 6 1 1 .5 9 

Telephone interview protocol for state TANF directors ................................. 30 1 0 .5 15 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 66. 

Additional Information: Copies of the 

proposed collection may be obtained by 

writing to the Administration for 

Children and Families, Office of 

Planning, Research and Evaluation, 370 

L’Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, 

DC 20447, Attn: OPRE Reports 

Clearance Officer. All requests should 

be identified by the title of the 

information collection. Email address: 

OPREinfocollection@acf.hhs.gov. 

OMB Comment: OMB is required to 

make a decision concerning the 

collection of information between 30 

and 60 days after publication of this 

document in the Federal Register. 

Therefore, a comment is best assured of 

having its full effect if OMB receives it 

within 30 days of publication. Written 

comments and recommendations for the 

proposed information collection should 

be sent directly to the following: Office 

of Management and Budget, Paperwork 

Reduction Project, Email: 

OIRA_SUBMISSION@OMB.EOP.GOV, 

Attn: Desk Officer for the 

Administration, for Children and 

Families. 

Steven M. Hanmer, 

OPRE Reports Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2013–09097 Filed 4–17–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4184–09–M 


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