Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 119 / Wednesday, June 20, 2012 / Notices 37047 

Keith A. Tucker, 

Paperwork Reduction Act Reports Clearance 

Officer, Office of the Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2012–15033 Filed 6–19–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4150–36–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

[Document Identifier: OS–0990–New; 60-day 

Notice] 

Agency Information Collection 

Request; 60-Day Public Comment 

Request 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS. 

In compliance with the requirement 

of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 

Office of the Secretary (OS), Department 

of Health and Human Services, is 

publishing the following summary of a 

proposed information collection request 

for public comment. Interested persons 

are invited to send comments regarding 

this burden estimate or any other aspect 

of this collection of information, 

including any of the following subjects: 

(1) The necessity and utility of the 

proposed information collection for the 

proper performance of the agency’s 

functions; (2) the accuracy of the 

estimated burden; (3) ways to enhance 

the quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and (4) the 

use of automated collection techniques 

or other forms of information 

technology to minimize the information 

collection burden. 

To obtain copies of the supporting 

statement and any related forms for the 

proposed paperwork collections 

referenced above, email your request, 

including your address, phone number, 

OMB number, and OS document 

identifier, to 

Sherette.funncoleman@hhs.gov, or call 

the Reports Clearance Office on (202) 

690–6162. Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collections must be directed 

to the OS Paperwork Clearance Officer 

at the above email address within 60 

days. 

Proposed Project: National Survey on 

Health Information Exchange in Clinical 

Laboratories OMB No. 0090–NEW— 

Office of the National Coordinator for 

Health Information Technology. 

Abstract: Currently, the Office of the 

National Coordinator for Health 

Information Technology (ONC) is 

soliciting comments on a new 

information collection activity that will 

collect key data from a relatively small 

sample of clinical laboratories 

nationwide for the Evaluation of the 

State Health Information Exchange 

Cooperative Agreement Program. A key 

goal of the State Health Information 

Exchange Cooperative Agreement 

Program is to promote the electronic 

exchange of structured test results from 

clinical laboratories to healthcare 

providers. To assess progress over time 

at both the national and state level, 

information is needed regarding the 

baseline capacity for clinical laboratory 

information exchange. 

The National Survey on Health 

Information Exchange in Clinical 

Laboratories will assess and evaluate 

the electronic transfer of health 

information from clinical laboratories to 

ordering physicians. It will focus on two 

key measures: (1) Percentage of 

laboratory facilities that are able to send 

structured lab results electronically to 

ordering physicians and (2) Percentage 

of lab results that are currently begin 

sent electronically in coded format to 

ordering physicians. 

The anticipated bi-annual data 

collection effort will be conducted in 

two waves—Wave I in November of 

2012 will establish the baseline and 

Wave II in 2014 will measure progress. 

Information will be collected using a 

mail-out/mail-back hard copy 

questionnaire with telephone nonresponse follow up. There will be two 

similar versions of the questionnaire— 

one for hospital-based labs and one for 

independent labs. For hospitals, the 

burden hours are based on an estimated 

length of approximately 20 minutes per 

completed survey. ONC will use these 

survey findings to develop a 

comprehensive understanding of the 

baseline level of laboratory information 

exchange in order to inform program 

activities to promote laboratory 

information exchange and provide more 

targeted assistance to states and 

territories in developing their laboratory 

information exchange strategies. 

ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN TABLE

Forms Type of 

respondent 

Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Average 

burden 

(in hours) 

per response 

Total burden 

hours 

Hospital-Based Laboratory Survey on 

Health Information Exchange.

Hospital-Based Laboratories 2,882 1 20/60 961 

Independent Laboratory Survey on Health 

Information Exchange.

Independent Laboratories ..... 2,081 1 17.57/60 609 

Total ....................................................... ............................................... 4,963 1 18.98/60 1,570 

Keith A. Tucker, 

Office of the Secretary, Paperwork Reduction 

Act Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2012–15032 Filed 6–19–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4150–36–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: 

‘‘Synthesis of AHRQ-Funded HAI 

Projects.’’ In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 

3501–3521, AHRQ invites the public to 

comment on this proposed information 

collection. 

This proposed information collection 

was previously published in the Federal 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

37048 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 119 / Wednesday, June 20, 2012 / Notices 

Register on April 6th, 2012 and allowed 

60 days for public comment. No 

substantive 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 July 20, 2012. 

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 

email at doris.lefkowitz@AHRQ.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project 

Synthesis of AHRQ–Funded HAI 

Projects 

The Agency for Healthcare Research 

and Quality (AHRQ) requests that the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) approve, under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, AHRQ’s 

collection of information for the 

Synthesis of AHRQ–Funded HAI 

Projects. 

For approximately a decade, AHRQ 

has conducted research on preventing 

healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), 

both internally and through contracts 

and grants. AHRQ’s grant- and contractsupported projects have been directed at 

the major types of HAIs: central-lineassociated bloodstream infections 

(CLABSI), catheter-associated urinary 

tract infections (CAUTI), surgical site 

infections (SSI), ventilator-associated 

pneumonia (VAP), methicillin-resistant 

Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and 

Clostridium difficile (C. diff.). Projects 

have addressed the problem of HAIs in 

diverse healthcare settings, including 

hospitals, ambulatory settings 

(ambulatory surgery centers, end-stage 

renal disease facilities, and outpatient 

clinics and offices), and long-term care 

facilities. AHRQ’s portfolio of HAI 

projects has emphasized a combination 

of research and implementation 

initiatives. In the latter category, a major 

focus of AHRQ’s efforts has been to 

deploy tools that can improve provider 

performance and reduce HAIs. Based on 

the earlier success of the Michigan 

Keystone project, AHRQ has funded 

projects to implement the 

Comprehensive Unit-based Safety 

Program (CUSP) to address CLABSI and 

CAUTI nationwide. Data are now 

emerging that demonstrate the success 

of CUSP in reducing CLABSI in 

hospitals across the nation. 

Between 2007 and 2010, AHRQ 

funded 40 contracts and 18 grants 

focusing on expanding the HAI 

knowledge base and implementing HAI 

prevention strategies. Today it is 

necessary to look across these projects 

in order to (1) identify, document, and 

synthesize their findings and results to 

ensure that AHRQ, healthcare 

professionals, and the public can make 

best use of these findings and (2) 

identify remaining gaps in the HAI 

science base to enable AHRQ to fund 

future studies that will address these 

needs. The synthesis will draw on 

several data sources, including 

interviews with project leaders. In 

addition to learning about studies that 

have not published peer-reviewed 

manuscripts, the interviews will enable 

the project team to delve into project 

details that are not typically available in 

publications, such as the project leader’s 

motivation for responding to the request 

for proposal, challenges faced in 

implementing the project, changes in 

the project’s delivery schedule or work 

plan, experts’ views on how HAI 

prevention evidence generated by a 

specific project fits into the HAI 

research agenda more broadly, and 

remaining gaps in the HAI knowledge 

base. 

AHRQ has contracted with IMPAQ 

International, LLC, to develop this 

synthesis, identify gaps, and promote 

the widespread application of 

successful HAI prevention approaches. 

This research has the following goals: 

(1) Identify and document findings and 

synthesize results of AHRQ-funded HAI 

projects; (2) Disseminate key findings 

from the HAI projects; and (3) Identify 

remaining gaps in the HAI knowledge 

base. 

This study is being conducted by 

AHRQ through its contractor, IMPAQ 

International, LLC and its subcontractor, 

the RAND Corporation, pursuant to 

AHRQ’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 the 

quality, effectiveness, efficiency, 

appropriateness and value of healthcare 

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 data collection will be 

implemented: 

(1) Interviews with contractors— 

Interviews will be conducted with the 

project leaders (project directors or 

project managers) from 40 HAI 

contractors. The purpose of these 

interviews is to identify (a) key findings, 

(b) gaps in knowledge base, (c) lessons 

learned, (d) effective approaches for 

preventing and reducing HAIs, and (e) 

opportunities for additional projects 

focused on generating and 

implementing knowledge on preventing 

HAIs. 

(2) Interviews with grantees— 

Interviews will be conducted with the 

project leaders (principal investigators) 

from 18 HAI grantees. Similar to the 

interviews with contractors, the purpose 

of these interviews is to identify (a) key 

findings, (b) gaps in knowledge base, (c) 

lessons learned, (d) effective approaches 

for preventing and reducing HAIs, and 

(e) opportunities for additional projects 

focused on generating and 

implementing knowledge on preventing 

HAIs. While the goals of the interviews 

with contractors and grantees are 

similar, the two audiences require 

separate interview protocols because 

their funding mechanisms and project 

structures differ. For example, contracts 

have more structured deliverable 

schedules than do grants and grants are 

more likely than contracts to be on 

investigator-initiated topics. 

AHRQ will interview key project 

leaders to learn about the processes and 

methods used, results achieved, and 

lessons learned under the AHRQ-funded 

HAI contracts and grants. This 

information will enable AHRQ to 

identify effective approaches for 

preventing and reducing HAIs and for 

promoting the widespread application 

of these approaches. Finally, collecting 

data from these audiences will allow 

AHRQ to detect gaps in the HAI science 

base and identify opportunities for 

additional projects focused on 

generating and implementing 

knowledge on preventing HAIs. 

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden 

Exhibit 1 shows the estimated 

annualized burden hours for the 

respondent’s time to participate in this 

evaluation. Interviews will be 

conducted with 40 contractors and 18 

grantees and each will last about 90 

minutes. The total burden hours are 

estimated to be 87. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 119 / Wednesday, June 20, 2012 / Notices 37049 

EXHIBIT 1—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Data collection activity Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Hours per 

response 

Total burden 

hours 

Interviews with contractors .............................................................................. 40 1 1.5 60 

Interviews with grantees .................................................................................. 18 1 1.5 27 

Total .......................................................................................................... 58 1 1 87 

1 Not applicable. 

The respondents are the project 

leaders, that is, project directors for the 

contracts and principal investigators for 

the grants. Based on the type of grant 

and the project leaders’ qualifications, 

the project leaders were categorized into 

three labor categories: Social Scientists 

and Related Workers; Epidemiologists; 

and Medical Scientists. For example, 

one project director conducting a 

randomized controlled trial is a 

physician and was categorized into the 

Medical Scientist labor category. Other 

project leaders have advanced degrees 

in the social sciences (e.g., gerontology) 

or epidemiology and were included in 

the Social Scientist or Epidemiologist 

labor categories, as appropriate. 

Exhibit 2 shows the estimated 

annualized cost burden associated with 

the respondent’s time to participate in 

the evaluation. The total cost burden is 

estimated to be $3,450. 

EXHIBIT 2—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN

Data collection activity Number of 

respondents 

Total burden 

hours 

Average 

hourly 

wage rate 1

Total cost 

burden 

Interviews with contractors .............................................................................. 40 60 $39.66 $2,380 

Interviews with grantees .................................................................................. 18 27 39.66 1,070 

Total .......................................................................................................... 58 87 2 3,450 

1Based upon the weighted average of the mean wages for 19–3099 Social Scientists and Related Workers, All Other ($37.45 per hour; n=17), 

19–1041 Epidemiologists ($32.83; n=5) and 19–1042 Medical Scientists ($41.69; n=36), National Compensation Survey: Occupational Wages in 

the United States May 2010, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2 Not applicable. 

Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal 

Government 

Exhibit 3 shows the estimated total 

and annualized cost to the government 

for conducting the evaluation. The total 

cost is estimated to be $87,502. 

EXHIBIT 3—ESTIMATED TOTAL AND ANNUALIZED COST

Cost component Total cost Annualized 

cost 

Project Development ............................................................................................................................................... $6,135 $2,045 

Data Collection Activities ......................................................................................................................................... 17,400 5,800 

Data Processing and Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 29,000 9,667 

Publication of Results .............................................................................................................................................. 0 0 

Project Management ................................................................................................................................................ 5,800 1,933 

Overhead ................................................................................................................................................................. 29,167 9,722 

Total .................................................................................................................................................................. 87,502 29,167 

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 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: June 7, 2012. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. 2012–14980 Filed 6–19–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M 

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