4356 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 16 / Tuesday, January 25, 2011 / Notices 

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: January 3, 2011. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. 2011–1173 Filed 1–24–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M 

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: ‘‘The 

Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality (AHRQ) Health Care 

Innovations Exchange Innovator 

Interview and Innovator Email 

Submission Guidelines.’’ In accordance 

with the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 

U.S.C. 3501–3520, AHRQ invites the 

public to comment on this proposed 

information collection. 

This proposed information collection 

was previously published in the Federal 

Register on November 2nd, 2010 and 

allowed 60 days for public comment. No 

comments were received. The purpose 

of this notice is to allow an additional 

30 days for public comment. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by February 24, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be submitted to: AHRQ’s OMB Desk 

Officer by fax at (202) 395–6974 

(attention: AHRQ’s desk officer) or by email at OIRA_submission@omb.eop.gov 

(attention: AHRQ’s desk officer). 

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@AHRQ.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project 

The Agency for Healthcare Research 

and Quality (AHRQ) Health Care 

Innovations Exchange Innovator 

Interview and Innovator Email 

Submission Guidelines 

This request for Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) review is for renewal 

of the existing collection that is 

currently approved under OMB Control 

No. 0935–0147, AHRQ Health Care 

Innovations Exchange Innovator 

Interview and AHRQ Health Care 

Innovations Exchange Innovator Email 

Submission Guidelines, which expires 

on March 31, 2011. 

The Health Care Innovations 

Exchange provides a national-level 

information hub to foster the 

implementation and adaptation of 

innovative strategies that improve 

health care quality and reduce 

disparities in the care received by 

different populations. The Innovations 

Exchange’s target audiences, broadly 

defined, are current and potential 

change agents in the U.S. health care 

system, including clinicians (e.g., 

physicians, nurses, and other 

providers), health system 

administrators, health plan managers, 

health service purchasers, regulators, 

and policymakers from relevant Federal 

and state agencies. 

To develop the target of 150 profiles 

per year, a purposively selected group of 

approximately 167 health care 

innovations will be selected annually 

for potential consideration. These 167 

innovations will be selected to ensure 

that innovations included in the 

Innovations Exchange cover a broad 

range of health care settings, care 

processes, priority populations, and 

clinical conditions. 

The goals of the Health Care 

Innovations Exchange are to: 

(1) Identify health care service 

delivery innovations and provide a 

national level repository of searchable 

innovations and QualityTools that 

enables health care decisionmakers to 

quickly identify ideas and tools that 

meet their needs. These innovations 

come from many care settings including 

inpatient facilities, outpatient facilities, 

long term care organizations, health 

plans and community care settings. 

They also represent many patient 

populations, disease conditions, and 

processes of care such as preventive, 

acute, and chronic care; 

(2) Foster the implementation and 

adoption of health care service delivery 

innovations that improve health care 

quality and reduce disparities in the 

care received by different populations. 

This data collection is being 

conducted by AHRQ through its 

contractor, Westat, pursuant to AHRQ’s 

statutory authority to conduct and 

support research on healthcare and on 

systems for the delivery of such care, 

including activities (1) with respect to 

the quality, effectiveness, efficiency, 

appropriateness and value of healthcare 

services, 42 U.S.C. 299a(a), and (2) to 

promote innovation in evidence-based 

health care practices and technologies. 

42 U.S.C. 299b–5. 

Method of Collection 

To achieve the first goal of the 

Innovations Exchange the following 

data collections will be implemented: 

(1) E-mail submission—Based on 

experience during the current approval 

period, approximately 10% of the 167 

health care innovations considered for 

inclusion annually, and their associated 

innovators, will submit their 

innovations via email to the Innovations 

Exchange without prior contact (about 

17 annually). Innovators who submit 

their innovations for possible 

publication through the email 

submission guidelines process will be 

considered as will innovations 

identified by project staff through an 

array of sources that include: Published 

literature, conference proceedings, news 

items, list servs, Federal agencies and 

other government programs and 

resources, health care foundations, and 

health care associations. 

(2) Health care innovator interview— 

To collect and verify the information 

required for the innovation profiles, 

health care innovators will be 

interviewed by telephone about the 

following aspects of their innovation: 

Health care problem addressed, impetus 

for the innovation, goals of the 

innovation, description of the 

innovation, sources of funding, 

evaluation results for the innovation, 

setting for the innovation, history of 

planning and implementation for the 

innovation, and lessons learned 

concerning the implementation of the 

innovation. Interviews will be 

conducted with innovators identified by 

project staff and those identified 

through email submission. 

(3) Annual follow-up reviews—After 

the innovation profile is published, on 

a yearly basis, innovators will be 

contacted by email to review and update 

their profiles. 

The second goal of the Innovations 

Exchange is achieved by serving as a 

‘‘one-stop shop’’ that provides: 

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 16 / Tuesday, January 25, 2011 / Notices 4357 

(1) Digested and reliable information 

about innovations in an adoptionfriendly format; 

(2) Learning resources including 

expert commentaries, articles, adoption 

guides and educational Web events, and 

(3) Networking opportunities that 

allow innovators and potential adopters 

to share information about 

implementation strategies and lessons 

learned, including in-person meetings, 

interactive online events, and the ability 

for users to post comments and engage 

in discussions on specific innovations. 

The ultimate decision to publish a 

detailed profile of an innovation 

depends on several factors, including an 

evaluation by AHRQ, AHRQ’s priorities, 

and the number of similar ideas in the 

Innovations Exchange. AHRQ’s 

priorities include identifying and 

highlighting innovations (1) That will 

help reduce disparities in health care 

and health status; (2) that will have 

significant impact on the overall value 

of health care; (3) where the innovators 

have a strong interest in participating; 

and (4) that have been supported by 

AHRQ. 

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden 

Exhibit 1 shows the estimated 

annualized burden hours for the 

respondents’ time to participate in this 

project. Approximately 167 innovators 

will participate in the initial data 

collection each year with 150 of those 

being added to the Innovations 

Exchange. About 17 innovations will be 

submitted by e-mail, which requires 30 

minutes. All 167 potential innovations 

will participate in the health care 

innovator interview, including the 17 

submitted via e-mail. The interview will 

last about 60 minutes and an additional 

15 minutes is typically required for the 

innovator to review and comment on 

the written profile. 

Based on experience, approximately 

10% of the candidate innovations either 

will not meet the inclusion criteria or 

their innovators will decide not to 

continue their participation, after the 

interview. Therefore, about 90% (150) of 

the 167 candidate innovations will 

move into the publication stage each 

year. Annual follow-up reviews will be 

conducted with all innovations that 

have been in the Innovations Exchange 

for at least one full year. With an 

expected total of 575 innovations in the 

Exchange by the end of the current 

approval period, and an additional 450 

to be added over the course of the next 

3 year approval period, an average of 

725 reviews will be conducted annually 

and will require about 30 minutes to 

complete. The total annualized burden 

is estimated to be 581 hours. 

Exhibit 2 shows the estimated 

annualized cost burden associated with 

the respondents’ time to participate in 

this research. The total annualized cost 

burden is estimated to be $19,754. 

EXHIBIT 1—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Form name Name of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Hours per 

response 

Total burden 

hours 

E-mail submission ............................................................................................ 17 1 30/60 9 

Health care innovator interview ....................................................................... 167 1 75/60 209 

Annual follow-up reviews ................................................................................. 725 1 30/60 363 

Total .......................................................................................................... 909 ........................ ........................ 581 

EXHIBIT 2—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN

Form name Number of 

respondents 

Total burden 

hours 

Average 

hourly wage 

rate* 

Total cost 

burden 

E-mail submission ............................................................................................ 17 9 $34 $306 

Health care innovator interview ....................................................................... 167 209 34 7,106 

Annual follow-up reviews ................................................................................. 725 363 34 12,342 

Total .......................................................................................................... 909 581 ........................ $19,754 

* Based upon the mean hourly wage for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of 

Labor, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2009. 

Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal 

Government 

Exhibit 3 shows the estimated 

annualized costs to the Government. 

The total cost to the Government of this 

data collection is approximately 

$592,922 over three years (on average, 

$197,642 per year). These costs cover 

data collection efforts for contacting 

candidate health care innovators, 

conducting innovator interviews, and 

contacting innovators annually to 

update profiles. 

EXHIBIT 3—ESTIMATED TOTAL AND ANNUALIZED COST

Cost component Total cost Annualized 

cost 

Data Collection Activities ......................................................................................................................................... $82,260 $27,420 

Website Maintenance .............................................................................................................................................. 64,172 21,391 

Project Management ................................................................................................................................................ 27,096 9,032 

Overhead ................................................................................................................................................................. 419,395 139,799 

Total .................................................................................................................................................................. $592,922 $197,642 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES

4358 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 16 / Tuesday, January 25, 2011 / Notices 

Request for Comments 

In accordance with the above-cited 

Paperwork Reduction Act legislation, 

comments on AHRQ1s 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: January 3, 2011. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. 2011–1172 Filed 1–24–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M 

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: 

‘‘Synthesis Reports for Grants and 

Cooperative Agreements for 

Transforming Healthcare Quality 

through Information Technology 

(THQIT).’’ In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 

3501–3520, AHRQ invites the public to 

comment on this proposed information 

collection. 

This proposed information collection 

was previously published in the Federal 

Register on November 2, 2010 and 

allowed 60 days for public comment. No 

comments were received. The purpose 

of this notice is to allow an additional 

30 days for public comment. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by February 24, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be submitted to: AHRQ’s OMB Desk 

Officer by fax at (202) 395–6974 

(attention: AHRQ’s desk officer) or by email at OIRA_submission@omb.eop.gov 

(attention: AHRQ’s desk officer). 

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@AHRQ.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project 

Synthesis Reports for Grants and 

Cooperative Agreements for 

Transforming Healthcare Quality 

Through Information Technology 

(THQIT) 

AHRQ’s health information 

technology initiative is part of the 

Nation’s strategy to put information 

technology to work in health care. By 

developing secure and private electronic 

health records and making health 

information available electronically 

when and where it is needed, health IT 

can improve the quality of care, even as 

it makes health care more cost-effective. 

This proposed information collection 

will help AHRQ enhance the evidence 

base to support effective information 

technology (IT) implementation and add 

to knowledge about health IT by 

synthesizing and drawing lessons from 

its Transforming Healthcare Quality 

through Information Technology 

(THQIT) program. 

From 2004–2010, the THQIT program 

has supported the adoption of health IT 

through 118 grants and cooperative 

agreements. These grants fall into three 

main categories: planning grants, 

implementation grants and value 

demonstration grants. Planning grants 

are intended to develop health IT 

infrastructure and data-sharing capacity 

among clinical provider organizations in 

their communities by (1) Creating 

multidisciplinary collaboratives and 

coalitions of health care providers, (2) 

conducting needs assessments and 

feasibility studies, and (3) developing 

plans to implement electronic health 

records. Implementation grants support 

community-wide and regional health IT 

systems by (1) Developing shared 

registries, electronic health record 

systems, and telemedicine networks, (2) 

integrating clinical data from a variety 

of health IT systems, including 

pharmacy, laboratory, and public health 

organizations, (3) redesigning clinical 

workflow to improve patient care and 

provider access to information and (4) 

creating novel methods for delivering 

information to providers. Value 

demonstration grants evaluate how the 

adoption of health IT will (1) Impact 

quality, safety, and resource use in 

large, integrated delivery systems, (2) 

advance the effectiveness of Web-based, 

patient education tools and (3) improve 

patient transitions between health care 

facilities and their homes. The program 

places an emphasis on grants to rural 

health organizations. 

AHRQ does not currently have a 

system in place for assessing the overall 

outcomes and lessons learned from 

these health IT grants. This project seeks 

to create such a system and has the 

following goals: 

(1) Further the state of knowledge of 

health IT planning, implementation, 

and effects by synthesizing the 

experiences of THQIT grantees and the 

reported effects of the grants; 

(2) Translate this knowledge into a 

practical tool to assist rural hospitals 

with electronic health record 

implementations; and 

(3) Translate this knowledge into 

recommendations for AHRQ activities. 

This study is being conducted by 

AHRQ through its contractor, 

Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. 

(Mathematica), pursuant to AHRQ’s 

statutory authority to conduct and 

support research (1) on healthcare and 

on systems for the delivery of such care, 

42 U.S.C. 299a, and (2) on information 

systems for health care improvement. 42 

U.S.C. 299b–3. 

Method of Collection 

To achieve the goals of this project the 

following data collections will be 

implemented: 

(1) Planning Grant Survey for all 

grantees that received a planning grant; 

(2) Implementation Grant Survey for 

all grantees that received an 

implementation grant; 

(3) Value Grant Survey for all grantees 

that received a value grant; and 

(4) In-Depth Interviews will be 

conducted via telephone with a sample 

of grantees from each of the three types 

of grants. Given the complex nature of 

many of the projects conducted under 

these grants, from each selected grantee 

organization 1 to 3 persons with 

different areas of expertise will 

participate in the interview with the 

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