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[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 250 (Thursday, December 29, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 81945-81947]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-33290]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Request for Measures and Domains To Use in Development of a 
Standardized Instrument for Use in Public Reporting of Family 
Experience of Pediatric Inpatient Care

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), HHS.

ACTION: Notice of request for measures and domains.

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SUMMARY: Section 401(a) of the Children's Health Insurance Program 
Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA), Public Law 111-3, amended the 
Social Security Act (the Act) to enact section 1139A (42 U.S.C. 1320b-
9a). Section 1139A(b) charged the Department of

[[Page 81946]]

Health and Human Services with improving pediatric health care quality 
measures. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is 
soliciting the submission of instruments or domains (for example, key 
concepts) measuring aspects of families' experience with the quality of 
inpatient medical and surgical hospital care from all researchers, 
vendors, hospitals, stakeholders, and other interested parties. The 
survey development team of Children's Hospital Boston Center of 
Excellence for Pediatric Quality Measurement (CEPQM), is one of the 
CHIPRA Pediatric Quality Measures Program (PQMP) Centers of Excellence, 
which were created pursuant to an interagency agreement between the 
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and AHRQ, and are funded 
through cooperative agreement awards with AHRQ. AHRQ is interested in 
instruments and items through which families of pediatric patients 
assess the care their child receives during the child's inpatient stay. 
The goal is to develop a standardized instrument for use in the public 
reporting of family experience of pediatric inpatient care. The team 
developing this survey intends to submit it to the CAHPS Consortium to 
request use of the CAHPS trademark. The survey will be developed in 
accordance with CAHPS Survey Design Principles and will develop 
implementation instructions based on those for CAHPS instruments 
(https://www.cahps.AHRQ.gov/About-CAHPS/Principles.aspx.) All CAHPS 
surveys are available to users free of charge and are published on the 
AHRQ Web site.

DATES: Please submit materials January 30, 2012. AHRQ will not respond 
to individual submissions, but will consider all suggestions.

ADDRESSES: Electronic submissions are encouraged, preferably as an 
email with an electronic file in a standard word processing format as 
an email attachment. Submissions may also be in the form of a letter 
to: Maushami DeSoto, MHA, Ph.D., Staff Service Fellow, Office of 
Extramural Research, Education and Priority, Populations Agency for 
Healthcare Research and Quality, 540 Gaither Rd, Rockville, MD 20850, 
Phone: (301) 427-1546, Fax: (301) 427-1238, Email: 
Maushami.DesotoAHRQ.hhs.gov.
    All submissions must include a written statement from the submitter 
that it will grant AHRQ the necessary rights to use, modify, and adapt 
the submitted instruments, items, and their documentation for the 
development of this survey and its dissemination for AHRQ purposes. In 
accordance with CHIPRA's charge to improve pediatric quality care 
measures, and consistent with AHRQ's mandate to disseminate research 
results, 42 U.S.C. 299c-3, AHRQ purposes include public disclosure and 
dissemination (e.g., on the AHRQ Web site) of AHRQ products and the 
results of AHRQ-sponsored research and activities. The written 
statement must be signed by an individual authorized to act for any 
holder of copyright and/or data rights on each submitted measure or 
instrument. The authority of the signatory to provide such 
authorization should be described in the letter. Submitters must attach 
a proposed license granting all of the above-referenced rights, 
including the following terms:
     A worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive, irrevocable 
license to AHRQ and those acting on its behalf to reproduce, prepare 
derivative works of, and otherwise use the submitted materials for the 
development of AHRQ products, including a standardized instrument for 
use in the public reporting of family experience of pediatric inpatient 
care; and
     The right of AHRQ and those acting on its behalf to 
publicly disseminate, in any media (including AHRQ's Web site), any 
derivative works that AHRQ or those acting on its behalf develops based 
on the submitted materials.

Submission Guidelines

    When submitting instruments, please include, to the extent that it 
is available:
     Name of the instrument;
     Copies of the full instrument, in all languages available;
     Domains or key concepts included in the instrument;
     Instrument reliability (internal consistency, test-retest, 
etc) and validity (content, construct, criterion-related);
     Results of cognitive testing;
     Results of field-testing;
     Current use of the instrument (who is using it, what it is 
being used for, how instrument findings are reported, and by whom the 
findings are used); and
     Relevant peer-reviewed journal articles or full citations.
    When submitting domains, please include, to the extent available:
     Detailed descriptions of question domain and specific 
purpose;
     Sample questions, in all languages available; and
     Relevant peer-reviewed journal articles or full citations. 
For all submissions, please also include:
     A brief cover letter summarizing the information requested 
above for submitted instruments and domains, respectively;
     Complete information about the person submitting the 
material, including:
    (a) Name;
    (b) Title;
    (c) Organization;
    (d) Mailing address;
    (e) Telephone number;
    (f) Email address; and
    (g) The written statement granting AHRQ the necessary rights to 
use, modify, and adapt the submitted instruments, items, and their 
supporting documentation for the development of the survey and its 
dissemination for AHRQ purposes, as described above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maushami DeSoto, MHA, Ph.D.

SUPPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 401(a) of the Children's Health 
Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA), Public Law 111-
3, amended the Social Security Act (the Act) to enact section 1139A (42 
U.S.C. 1320b-9a). Since the law was passed, the Agency for Healthcare 
Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 
Services (CMS) have been working together to implement selected 
provisions of the legislation related to children's health care 
quality. Section 1139A(b) of the Act charged the Department of Health 
and Human Services with improving pediatric health care quality 
measures. To implement the law, AHRQ and CMS have established the 
CHIPRA Pediatric Quality Measures Program (PQMP), which is designed to 
enhance select pediatric quality measures and develop new measures as 
needed.
    The Children's Hospital Boston Center of Excellence for Pediatric 
Quality Measurement (CEPQM) is one of seven CHIPRA PQMP Centers of 
Excellence, which were created pursuant to an interagency agreement 
between CMS and AHRQ and funded through cooperative agreement awards 
with AHRQ. CEPQM has been assigned to develop a family experience of 
pediatric inpatient care measure to be considered as a standardized 
instrument for publicly reporting pediatric inpatient hospital family 
experiences voluntarily by State Medicaid and CHIP programs and to be 
used by providers, consumers, other public and private purchasers, and 
others. The team developing this survey intends to submit it to the 
CAHPS Consortium to request use of the CAHPS trademark.
    Existing instruments or domains submitted should capture the 
family's experience of hospital or related care (for example, 
preparation for discharge or care coordination). The survey development 
team is looking for items

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for which families of pediatric inpatients are generally the best or 
only judge; for example, the family can best say if the provider spent 
sufficient time with them or explained things in ways they could 
understand. Existing instruments that have been tested should have a 
high degree of reliability and validity; and evidence of wide use will 
be helpful.

    Dated: December 20, 2011.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
AHRQ Director.
[FR Doc. 2011-33290 Filed 12-28-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-M
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