Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 53 / Friday, March 18, 2022 / Notices 15425 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality 

Meeting for Software Developers on 

the Common Formats for Patient 

Safety Data Collection 

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research 

and Quality (AHRQ), Department of 

Health and Human Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is 

to announce a meeting to discuss 

implementation of the Common Formats 

with software developers and other 

interested parties. This meeting is 

designed as an interactive forum where 

software developers can provide input 

on use of the formats. AHRQ especially 

requests participation by and input from 

those entities which have used AHRQ’s 

technical specifications and 

implemented, or plan to implement, the 

Common Formats electronically. 

DATES: The meeting will be held from 

1:00 to 2:30 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, 

March 31st, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held 

virtually. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Hamid Jalal, Medical Officer, Center for 

Quality Improvement and Patient 

Safety, AHRQ, 5600 Fishers Lane, 

Rockville, MD 20857; 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: AHRQ 

coordinates the development of sets of 

standardized definitions and formats 

(Common Formats) that make it possible 

to collect, aggregate, and analyze 

uniformly structured information about 

health care quality and patient safety for 

local, regional, and national learning. 

The Common Formats include technical 

specifications to facilitate the collection 

of electronically comparable data by 

Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs) and 

other entities. Additional information 

about the Common Formats can be 

obtained through AHRQ’s PSO website 

at https://pso.ahrq.gov/common-formats 

and the PSO Privacy Protection Center’s 

website at https://www.psoppc.org/ 

psoppc_web/publicpages/ 

commonFormatsOverview. 

Background 

The Patient Safety and Quality 

Improvement Act of 2005, 42 U.S.C. 

299b–21 to 299b–26 (Patient Safety Act), 

and the related Patient Safety and 

Quality Improvement Final Rule, 42 

CFR part 3 (Patient Safety Rule), 

published in the Federal Register on 

November 21, 2008, 73 FR 70731– 

70814, provide for the Federal listing of 

Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs), 

which collect, aggregate, and analyze 

confidential information (patient safety 

work product) regarding the quality and 

safety of health care delivery. 

The Patient Safety Act requires PSOs, 

to the extent practical and appropriate, 

to collect patient safety work product 

from providers in a standardized 

manner that permits valid comparisons 

of similar cases among similar 

providers. (42 U.S.C. 299b–24(b)(1)(F)). 

The Patient Safety Act also authorizes 

the development of data standards, 

known as the Common Formats, to 

facilitate the aggregation and analysis of 

non-identifiable patient safety data 

collected by PSOs and reported to the 

network of patient safety databases 

(NPSD). (42 U.S.C. 299b–23(b)). The 

Patient Safety Act and Patient Safety 

Rule can be accessed at: http://

www.pso.ahrq.gov/legislation/. 

AHRQ has issued Common Formats 

for Event Reporting for three settings of 

care—hospitals, nursing homes, and 

community pharmacies. As part of the 

agency’s efforts to improve diagnostic 

safety and quality in healthcare, AHRQ 

is in the process of developing Common 

Formats for Event Reporting— 

Diagnostic Safety (CFER–DS). 

Federally listed PSOs can meet the 

requirement to collect patient safety 

work product in a standardized manner 

to the extent practical and appropriate 

by using AHRQ’s Common Formats. The 

Common Formats are also available in 

the public domain to encourage their 

widespread adoption. An entity does 

not need to be listed as a PSO or 

working with one to use the Common 

Formats. However, the Federal privilege 

and confidentiality protections only 

apply to information developed as 

patient safety work product by 

providers and PSOs working under the 

Patient Safety Act. 

Agenda, Registration, and Other 

Information About the Meeting 

The March 31 meeting will be an 

interactive forum designed to allow 

meeting participants not only to provide 

input but also to respond to the input 

provided by others. To encourage 

stakeholder feedback, this meeting will 

feature a panel of representatives from 

two PSOs who will share insights from 

their experiences and challenges with 

incorporating Common Formats into the 

work of their PSOs and reporting 

providers. Sheila Rossi will represent 

the ECRI and ISMP PSO and Mike 

Personett will represent the Press Ganey 

PSO on the panel. Time will be 

allocated during the panel presentation 

to engage meeting participants and 

foster active discussion. AHRQ requests 

that interested persons send an email to 

SDMeetings@infinityconferences.com 

for registration information. Before the 

meeting, an agenda and logistical 

information will be provided to 

registrants. 

Dated: March 14, 2022. 

Marquita Cullom, 

Associate Director. 

[FR Doc. 2022–05731 Filed 3–17–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Agency for Toxic Substances and 

Disease Registry 

[60Day–22–0060; Docket No. ATSDR–2022– 

0002] 

Proposed Data Collection Submitted 

for Public Comment and 

Recommendations 

AGENCY: Agency for Toxic Substances 

and Disease Registry (ATSDR), 

Department of Health and Human 

Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Notice with comment period. 

SUMMARY: The Agency for Toxic 

Substances and Disease Registry 

(ATSDR), as part of its continuing effort 

to reduce public burden and maximize 

the utility of government information, 

invites the general public and other 

federal agencies the opportunity to 

comment on a proposed and/or 

continuing information collection, as 

required by the Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995. This notice invites 

comment on a proposed information 

collection project titled Assessment of 

Environmental Health and Land Reuse 

Certification Training. This certification 

is a joint collaboration between ATSDR 

and the National Environmental Health 

Association (NEHA) that is designed to 

increase participant awareness and 

knowledge, skills and feedback on 

environmental health and land reuse. 

DATES: ATSDR must receive written 

comments on or before May 17, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by Docket No. ATSDR–2022– 

0002 by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

Regulations.gov. Follow the instructions 

for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information 

Collection Review Office, Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 


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