42738 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 140 / Friday, July 20, 2012 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality 

Patient Safety Organizations: 

Voluntary Relinquishment From the 

Coalition for Quality and Patient Safety 

of Chicagoland (CQPS PSO) 

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 the Coalition for Quality and 

Patient Safety of Chicagoland (CQPS 

PSO) 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 May 24, 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 

Coalition for Quality and Patient Safety 

of Chicagoland (CQPS PSO), PSO 

number P0090, which is a component 

entity of Project Patient Care, Inc., to 

voluntarily relinquish its status as a 

PSO. Accordingly, the Coalition for 

Quality and Patient Safety of 

Chicagoland (CQPS PSO) was delisted 

effective at 12:00 Midnight ET (2400) on 

May 24, 2012. 

More information on PSOs can be 

obtained through AHRQ’s PSO Web site 

at http://www.pso.AHRQ.gov/ 

index.html. 

Dated: July 13, 2012. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. 2012–17531 Filed 7–19–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality 

Request for Information on Quality 

Measurement Enabled by Health IT 

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research 

and Quality (AHRQ), Health and Human 

Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Notice of Request for 

Information (RFI). 

SUMMARY: The Agency for Healthcare 

Research and Quality (AHRQ) requests 

information from the Public, including 

diversified stakeholders (health 

information technology (IT) system 

developers, including vendors; payers, 

quality measure developers, end-users, 

clinicians, health care consumers) 

regarding current successful strategies 

and challenges regarding quality 

measurement enabled by health IT. 

Quality measurement—the assessment 

of the timeliness, completeness and 

appropriateness of preventive services, 

diagnostic services, and treatment 

provided in health care—has been most 

generally conducted via paper chart 

information capture, manual chart 

abstraction, and the analysis of 

administrative claims data. 

DATES: Submit comments on or before 

August 20, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Electronic responses are 

preferred and should be addressed to 

HIT-PTQ@AHRQ.hhs.gov. Nonelectronic responses will also be 

accepted. Please send by mail to: 

Rebecca Roper, Agency for Healthcare 

Research and Quality, Attention: HITEnabled QM RFI Responses, 540 Gaither 

Road, Room 6000, Rockville, MD 20850, 

Phone: 301–427–1535. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Please identify in the subject line of 

emails that you are inquiring about the 

‘‘Question about HIT-enabled QM RFI’’. 

Contact Angela Nunley, email: 

Armela.Nunley@AHRQ.hhs.gov, Phone: 

301–427–1505, or, Rebecca Roper, 

email: Rebecca.ROPER@AHRQ.hhs.gov, 

Phone: 301–427–1535. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Health information technology (IT), 

such as, electronic health records (EHR) 

which may include clinical decision 

support and health information 

exchange, has seen a tremendous 

increase in adoption in recent years. 

Some institutions have successfully 

used health IT to generate health ITenabled quality measures which may be 

retooled versions of established paperbased or administrative data-driven 

quality measures or (preferably) they are 

‘‘de novo’’ quality measures that were 

developed with the capabilities of 

health IT in mind. These new health ITenabled quality measures seek to 

leverage the use of electronic clinical 

data capture, analysis and reporting to 

measure and report electronically 

enabled quality measures in order to 

facilitate improvements in the quality of 

care provided. AHRQ supports research 

to improve health care quality through 

enhancements in the safety, efficiency, 

and effectiveness of health care 

available to all Americans. Through this 

RFI, AHRQ is seeking information 

related to successful strategies and/or 

remaining challenges encountered 

regarding the development of health ITenabled quality measure development 

and reporting. 

Health IT has the potential to advance 

quality measurement and reporting 

through the use of efficient automated 

data collection, analysis, processing, 

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