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 Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
 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: 
                        *“Assessing the Impact of the National Implementation of TeamSTEPPS Master Training Program.”*
                         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 June 9, 2015.
 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@AHRQ.hhs.gov.*


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Proposed Project Assessing the Impact of the National Implementation of TeamSTEPPS Master Training Program AHRQ, in collaboration with the Department of Defense's (DoD) Tricare Management Activity (TMA), developed TeamSTEPPS® (“Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety”) to provide an evidence-based suite of tools and strategies for teaching teamwork-based patient safety to health care professionals. In 2007, AHRQ and DoD coordinated the national implementation of the TeamSTEPPS Program. The main objective of this program is to improve patient safety by training a select group of stakeholders such as Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) personnel, High Reliability Organization (HRO) staff, and health care system staff in various teamwork, communication, and patient safety concepts, tools, and techniques. Ultimately TeamSTEPPS will help to build a national and state-level infrastructure for supporting teamwork-based patient safety efforts in health care organizations. The National Implementation of TeamSTEPPS Master Training Program includes the training of “Master Trainers” in various health care systems capable of stimulating the utilization and adoption of TeamSTEPPS in their health care delivery systems, providing technical assistance and consultation on implementing TeamSTEPPS, and developing various channels of learning (
                    *e.g.,*
                     user networks, various educational venues) for continuing support and improvement of teamwork in health care. AHRQ has already trained a corps of over 5,000 participants to serve as the Master Trainer infrastructure supporting national adoption of TeamSTEPPS. An anticipated 2,400 participants who are registering for the program will be studied in this assessment. Participants in training become Master Trainers in TeamSTEPPS and are afforded the opportunity to observe the program's tools and strategies in action. In addition to developing a corps of Master Trainers, AHRQ has also developed a series of support mechanisms for this effort including a data collection Web tool, a TeamSTEPPS call support center, and a monthly consortium to address any challenges encountered implementing TeamSTEPPS. Participants applied to the program as teams representing their organizations and were accepted as training participants after having completed an organizational readiness assessment. Due to the differences among the types of organizations participating in the program, each participant has a different potential to apply tools and concepts within and/or beyond their home organizations. For example: Health care system staff (or implementers) from hospitals, home health agencies, nursing homes, large physician practices, and other direct care organizations are more likely than other participants to implement the TeamSTEPPS materials on a daily basis and will be more likely to affect specific work processes being conducted within an organization. As a result, health care system participants are likely to have a focused and specific impact that is limited to their organization.
                QIO\HRO\Hospital Association\State Health Department participants (or facilitators) will be more likely to have both an in-depth and broad impact if they use the TeamSTEPPS materials to assist a particular organization inits patient safety activities, as well as to provide general patient safety guidance to a large number of organizations. To clarify the differences among the participants, a logic model has been developed that highlights the roles of the different types of participants, the types of activities in which they are likely to engage post-training, and the potential outcomes that may stem from these activities. The logic model served as a guide for developing questions for a web-based questionnaire and qualitative interviews to ensure that participant and leadership feedback is captured as thoroughly and accurately as possible. AHRQ is conducting an ongoing evaluation of the National Implementation of TeamSTEPPS Master Training Program. The goals of this evaluation are to examine the extent to which training participants have been able to: (1) Implement the TeamSTEPPS products, concepts, tools, and techniques in their home organizations and, (2) the extent to which participants have spread that training, knowledge, and skills to their organizations, local areas, regions, and states. The National Implementation of TeamSTEPPS program is led by AHRQ through its contractor, the Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET). This study is being conducted by HRET's subcontractor, IMPAQ International. The work is being conducted pursuant to AHRQ's statutory authority to conduct and support research, evaluations, and training 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 assessment the following two data collections will be implemented: (1) Training participant questionnaires to examine post-training activities and teamwork outcomes as a 
                    ( print page 19322)
                    result of training from multiple perspectives. The questionnaire is directed to all Master Training participants, and will cover post-training activities, implementation experiences, facilitators and barriers to implementation encountered, and perceived outcomes as a result of these activities. Advance notice, invitations to participate, reminder emails, and thank you letters to respondents are included in the participant questionnaire. (2) Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with members from organizations who participated in the TeamSTEPPS Master Training Program. Information gathered from these interviews will be analyzed and used to draft a “lessons learned” document that will capture additional detail on the issues related to participants' and organizations' abilities to implement and disseminate TeamSTEPPS post-training. The organizations will vary in terms of type of organization (
                    *e.g.,*
                     QIO or hospital associations versus health care systems) and region (
                    *i.e.,*
                     Northeast, Midwest, Southwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, West Coast). In addition, we will strive to ensure that the distribution of organizations mirrors the distribution of organizations in the Master Training population. For example, if the distribution of organizations is such that only one out of every five organizations is a QIO, we will ensure that a maximum of two organizations in the site visit sample are QIOs. The interviews will more accurately reveal the degree of training spread for the organizations included. Interviewees will be drawn from qualified individuals serving in one of two roles (
                    *i.e.,*
                     implementers or facilitators). The interview protocol will be adapted for each role based on the respondent group and to some degree, for each individual, based on their training and patient safety experience. There is also an informed consent form that each participant will be required to sign prior to beginning the interview. The final product for this evaluation will be a report that documents the background, methodology, results (including any patterns or themes emerging from the data), limitations of the study, and recommendations for future training programs and tool development. The results of this evaluation will help AHRQ understand the extent to which participants and participating organizations have been able to employ various TeamSTEPPS tools and concepts and the barriers and facilitators they encountered. This information will help guide AHRQ in developing and refining other patient safety tools and future training programs for patient safety. Estimated Annual Respondent Burden Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annualized burden hours for the respondent's time to participate in the study. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with a maximum of 9 individuals from each of 9 participating organizations and will last about one hour each. The training participant questionnaire will be completed by approximately 10 individuals from each of about 240 organizations and is estimated to require 20 minutes to complete. The total annualized burden is estimated to be 881 hours. Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annualized cost burden based on the respondents' time to participate in the study. The total cost burden is estimated to be $39,240. Exhibit 1—Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
Form name
Number of
                             respondents
Number of
                             responses per 
                             respondent
Hours per 
                             response
Total burden hoursSemi-structured interview
9
9
60/60
81Training participant questionnaire
240
10
20/60
800Total
249
NA
NA
881
 Exhibit 2—Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
Form name
Number of
                             respondents
Total burden hours
Average
                             hourly wage 
                             rate*
Total cost
                             burdenSemi-structured interview
9
81
$44.54
$3,608Training participant questionnaire
240
800
44.54
35,632Total
249
881
NA
39,240* Based upon the mean of the average wages for all health professionals (29-0000) for the training participant questionnaire and for executives, administrators, and managers for the organizational leader questionnaire presented in the National Compensation Survey: Occupational Wages in the United States, May 2013, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
                        *http://www.bls.gov/​oes/​current/​oes_​nat.htm*
                         35.93 53.15.
 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. 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: March 31, 2015. Sharon B. Arnold, Deputy Director.


[FR Doc. 2015-07700 Filed 4-09-15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4160-90-P