104156 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 245 / Friday, December 20, 2024 / Notices 

disclose confidential trade secrets or 

commercial property such as patentable 

material, and personal information 

concerning individuals associated with 

the grant applications, the disclosure of 

which would constitute a clearly 

unwarranted invasion of personal 

privacy. 

Agenda items for this meeting are 

subject to change as priorities dictate. 

Dated: December 16, 2024. 

Marquita Cullom, 

Associate Director. 

[FR Doc. 2024–30336 Filed 12–19–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–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: Information collection 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 (new): 

‘‘Supporting and Evaluating AHRQ’s 

Long COVID Care Network.’’ 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by February 18, 2025. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz, 

Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, by 

email at 

REPORTSCLEARANCEOFFICER@

ahrq.hhs.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ Reports 

Clearance Officer, (301) 427–1477, or by 

email at 

REPORTSCLEARANCEOFFICER@

ahrq.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project 

Supporting and Evaluating AHRQ’s 

Long COVID Care Network 

Long COVID is a chronic condition in 

which people continue to experience 

persistent, varying, and potentially 

disabling impacts after the acute 

COVID–19 illness. Up to one third of 

people with COVID–19 experience Long 

COVID with the numbers higher in 

females, transgender and bisexual 

people, people without a college degree, 

and people with disability. Some of 

these groups often face barriers that can 

worsen the impact of Long COVID on 

their lives and complicate recovery. 

Some of the barriers they face include 

difficulty with healthcare access, 

communication and internet 

accessibility, lack of health insurance, 

lower health literacy, greater difficulty 

using patient portals and telemedicine, 

and greater medical and social 

vulnerabilities. 

Clinics to provide outpatient Long 

COVID care have emerged across the 

country to offer coordinated, 

multidisciplinary care that meets the 

complex, diverse, multi-system, and 

specialized needs of people with Long 

COVID. There are some Long COVID 

clinic models that share common 

elements including care coordination 

and access to multidisciplinary care. 

Though these clinics meet critical needs 

in the healthcare system, they face 

significant challenges including staffing 

shortages; long patient waitlists; lack of 

funding or reimbursement for some 

services; lack of clear treatment 

protocols; limited capacity to provide 

timely, comprehensive, coordinated, 

and person-centered care; and limited 

clinician knowledge and training in 

Long COVID management. Other 

barriers these clinics face include the 

limited number of Long COVID clinics 

and specialists, concentration of clinics 

in academic centers and urban areas, 

late recognition of Long COVID 

symptoms by clinicians, and delayed 

referral to Long COVID clinics or 

appropriate specialists. 

In response, AHRQ awarded grants to 

12 multidisciplinary Long COVID 

clinics across the country (the ‘‘AHRQ 

Long COVID Care Network’’) with the 

goal to expand access to comprehensive, 

coordinated, and person-centered care 

for people with Long COVID, 

particularly underserved populations 

that are disproportionately impacted by 

the effects of Long COVID. Specifically, 

the grants are designed to expand access 

and care, develop and implement new 

or improved care delivery models, foster 

best practices for Long COVID 

management, and support the primary 

care community in Long COVID 

education and management. 

The information and data collected 

for this study will facilitate an 

evaluation of the outcomes of AHRQ’s 

Long COVID Care Network. The 

evaluation reflects AHRQ’s mission to 

produce evidence to make healthcare 

safer, higher quality, more accessible, 

equitable, and affordable; and to work 

within the U.S. Department of Health 

and Human Services and with other 

partners to make sure that the evidence 

is understood and used. This study is a 

new data collection request, and the 

data to be collected are not available 

elsewhere unless obtained through this 

data collection. 

This project seeks to assess the 

following: 

(1) How is the AHRQ Long COVID 

Care Network implementing strategies 

to: 

(a) expand access to comprehensive, 

coordinated, person-centered care, 

(b) engage clinicians in Long COVID 

education and management, and 

(c) educate patients and communities 

about Long COVID? 

(2) What was the reach of the AHRQ 

Long COVID Care Network strategies, 

especially to underserved populations 

that are disproportionately impacted by 

the effects of Long COVID? 

(3) What were the patterns of: 

(a) service utilization, 

(b) patient outcomes and experiences, 

(c) referral streams, and 

(d) primary care communication and 

coordination within the AHRQ Long 

COVID Care Network? 

To answer these research questions 

AHRQ will implement two new data 

collections that require OMB approval. 

These data collections include: 

(1) Grantee Interviews—Conducted 

during annual site visits. At each site 

visit, up to five 90-minute interviews 

will be conducted—for a total of 60 

interviews across the 12 sites. Each 

interview will include up to two 

respondents—for a total of 120 

respondents across the sites. The 

interview respondents will include 

grantee principal investigators, research 

and clinical staff at grantee Long COVID 

clinics, and representatives from grantee 

partner organizations (such as primary 

care practices and community 

organizations). The primary purpose of 

the interviews is to query about how the 

grantees developed and implemented 

new or improved care delivery models, 

implementation strategies, and 

operational workflows; identified 

barriers and facilitators to 

implementation and mitigation 

strategies for implementation 

challenges; and considered the potential 

sustainability of their program when 

AHRQ funding ends. 

(2) Grantee Survey—The survey will 

be administered to each grantee 

annually. Each grantee’s assigned 

evaluation liaison, or their designated 

representative, will respond to the 

survey. The primary purpose of the 

survey is to collect data on the services 

and personnel at grantee Long COVID 

clinics and the costs and resources 

associated with the implementation of 

the grant. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 245 / Friday, December 20, 2024 / Notices 104157 

This study is being conducted by 

AHRQ through its contractor, 2M 

Research Services (2M), pursuant to 

AHRQ’s statutory authority to conduct 

and support research 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 

The Grantee Survey will be delivered 

via a web form to the evaluation liaison 

of each grantee. The evaluation liaison 

will have the option to designate 

another person to complete sections of 

or the entire survey if needed. The 

contractor will develop a unique survey 

link for each grantee. The evaluation 

team will disseminate the findings from 

the grantee interviews and Grantee 

Survey that answer the evaluation 

questions through evaluation reports 

developed for AHRQ and through other 

dissemination products (e.g., 

newsletters, blogs, conference 

presentations and papers, etc.) to a 

learning community of the grantees; an 

external contributor group consisting of 

health system leaders, payers and 

policymakers, people with lived 

experience, professional association 

representatives, and subject matter 

experts; and to the general public. 

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden 

Exhibit 1 shows the estimated 

annualized burden hours for the 

respondents’ time to participate in this 

data collection. The total annual burden 

hours are estimated to be 186 hours. 

The Grantee Interviews and Grantee 

Survey will be conducted with 

healthcare providers and grantee 

program staff and partners. 

1. Grantee Interviews—Completed 

once by 120 respondents. The interview 

takes 1.5 hours to complete. 

2. Grantee Survey—Completed once 

by 12 respondents. The survey takes 30 

minutes to complete. 

Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annual 

cost burden associated with the 

respondents’ time to participate in this 

data collection. The annual cost burden 

is estimated to be $21,390. Although the 

education level of respondents may 

vary, we anticipate many of them will 

have a medical degree and be employed 

as a physician or a related occupation. 

The average hourly wage for Physicians 

as reported by the Bureau of Labor 

Statistics ($115.00) was used. 

EXHIBIT 1—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Form name Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Hours per 

response 

Total burden 

hours 

Grantee Interviews ........................................................................................... 120 1 90/60 180 

Grantee Survey ................................................................................................ 12 1 30/60 6 

Total .......................................................................................................... 132 1 ........................ 186 

EXHIBIT 2—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN

Form name Total burden 

hours 

Average 

hourly wage 

rate * 

Total cost 

burden 

Grantee Interviews ....................................................................................................................... 180 a $115.00 $20,700 

Grantee Survey ............................................................................................................................ 6 b 115.00 690 

Total ...................................................................................................................................... 186 ........................ 21,390 

* National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United States May 2023, ‘‘U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.’’ 

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm. aBased on the median wages for Physicians 29–1210. bBased on the median wages for Physicians 29–1210. 

Request for Comments 

In accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501–3520, 

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’s 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: December 16, 2024. 

Marquita Cullom, 

Associate Director. 

[FR Doc. 2024–30337 Filed 12–19–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

[30Day-25–1352] 

Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork 

Reduction Act Review 

In accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, the Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 

has submitted the information 

collection request titled ‘‘Operational 

Readiness Review 2.0’’ to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

review and approval. CDC previously 

published a ‘‘Proposed Data Collection 

Submitted for Public Comment and 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1