68884 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 234 / Thursday, December 6, 2007 / Notices 

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Job Titles and/or Job Duties: All 

Atomic Weapons Employer employees. 

Period of Employment: August 13, 

1942 through December 31, 1945; and 

Job Titles and/or Job Duties: All 

employees of the Department of Energy 

(DOE), its predecessor agencies, and 

DOE contractors or subcontractors, who 

worked in the Hood Building. 

Period of Employment: January 13, 

1946 through December 31, 1963. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Larry Elliott, Director, Office of 

Compensation Analysis and Support, 

National Institute for Occupational 

Safety and Health (NIOSH), 4676 

Columbia Parkway, MS C–46, 

Cincinnati, OH 45226, Telephone 513–

533–6800 (this is not a toll-free 

number). Information requests can also 

be submitted by e-mail to 

OCAS@CDC.GOV. 

Dated: November 30, 2007. 

John Howard, 

Director, National Institute for Occupational 

Safety and Health. 

[FR Doc. E7–23748 Filed 12–5–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–19–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institute for Occupational 

Safety and Health; Decision To 

Evaluate a Petition To Designate a 

Class of Employees at SAM 

Laboratories, Columbia University, 

New York, New York, To Be Included 

in the Special Exposure Cohort 

AGENCY: National Institute for 

Occupational Safety and Health 

(NIOSH), Department of Health and 

Human Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Health and 

Human Services (HHS) gives notice as 

required by 42 CFR 83.12(e) of a 

decision to evaluate a petition to 

designate a class of employees at SAM 

Laboratories, Columbia University, New 

York, New York, to be included in the 

Special Exposure Cohort under the 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

Compensation Program Act of 2000. The 

initial proposed definition for the class 

being evaluated, subject to revision as 

warranted by the evaluation, is as 

follows: 

Facility: SAM Laboratories, Columbia 

University. 

Location: New York, New York. 

Job Titles and/or Job Duties: All 

workers. 

Period of Employment: January 1, 

1942 through December 31, 1947. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Larry Elliott, Director, Office of 

Compensation Analysis and Support, 

National Institute for Occupational 

Safety and Health (NIOSH), 4676 

Columbia Parkway, MS C–46, 

Cincinnati, OH 45226, Telephone 513–

533–6800 (this is not a toll-free 

number). Information requests can also 

be submitted by e-mail to 

OCAS@CDC.GOV. 

Dated: November 30, 2007. 

John Howard, 

Director, National Institute for Occupational 

Safety and Health. 

[FR Doc. E7–23704 Filed 12–5–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–19–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, Department of Health and 

Human Services. 

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 

‘‘Voluntary Questionnaire and Data 

Collection Testing to Pretest Home 

Health Care CAHPS Questions and 

Methodology.’’ This activity is being 

conducted under AHRQ’s generic pretesting clearance OMB #0935–0125. In 

accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104–

13 (44 U.S.C. § 3506(c)(2)(A)), AHRQ 

invites the public to comment on this 

proposed information collection. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by January 7, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Comments on this notice 

should be submitted electronically to 

both AHRQ and to OMB. Comments 

should be submitted to Doris Lefkowitz, 

Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ at 

doris.lefkowitz@ahrq.hhs.gov and to 

AHRQ’s OMB Desk Officer by fax at 

(202) 395–6974 (attention: AHRQ’S desk 

officer) or by e-mail at 

OIRA_submission@omb.eop.gov 

(attention: AHRQ’s desk officer). Copies 

of the proposed collection plans, data 

collection instruments and specific 

details on the estimated burden can be 

obtained from AHRQ’s Reports 

Clearance Officer. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ, Reports 

Clearance Officer, (301) 427–1477. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

The Consumer Assessment of Health 

Plans Survey (CAHPS) program was 

initiated in 1995 to develop a survey 

and report on consumers’ perspectives 

on the quality of their health plans. 

Since that time the CAHPS program, in 

partnership with CMS and others, has 

expanded its scope and developed 

surveys and reports regarding patient 

assessments of care received from 

individual clinicians, group practices, 

in-center hemodialysis services, nursing 

homes and hospitals. Now, CMS has 

asked the CAHPS team to develop a 

survey to obtain the consumer’s 

perspective on home health care and 

services. 

One of the top priorities of the Centers 

for Medicare & Medicaid Services is to 

increase the transparency in healthcare 

by providing quality and cost 

information to the public. A critical 

component missing from the current 

measurement set for home health 

agencies is information from the 

consumer perspective on the quality of 

care provided. The information 

collection proposed here will be a field 

test of a preliminary instrument 

designed to obtain consumer 

assessments of home health agency care. 

Methods of Collection 

This field test will use a two stage 

sampling approach. The first stage is a 

convenience sample of Medicaid and/or 

Medicare certified Home Health 

Agencies (HHA) and the second stage is 

a probability sample of each selected 

HHA’s eligible patients. Thirty-six 

HHA’s across multiple states and home 

health agency operators will be 

recruited to participate. The sample of 

HHAs will vary by size, financial 

ownership and organizational type 

(chain or independent). AHRQ 

anticipates sampling an average of 138 

patients per agency. 

Each selected patient will be mailed 

the questionnaire and cover letter. To 

maximize response rates, follow up 

activities will include an additional 

request for participation by mail and by 

phone call. Individuals contacted will 

be assured of the confidentiality of their 

replies under Section 934(c) of the 

Public Health Service Act. 

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden 

The survey will be distributed to 

4,968 patients with a projected 

completion rate of 40 percent for a total 

of 1,987 returned surveys. Responses are 

estimated at 20 minutes per survey. 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 234 / Thursday, December 6, 2007 / Notices 68885 

Therefore the estimate of total burden of 

the survey is 663 hours. 

EXHIBIT 1.—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Form name Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Hours per 

response 

Total burden 

hours 

Mail survey with mail and telephone follow up ................................ 1,987 1 20/60 663 

Total .......................................................................................... 1,987 1 20/60 663 

EXHIBIT 2.—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN

Form name Number of 

respondents 

Total burden 

hours 

Average hourly 

wage rate* 

Total cost 

burden 

Mail survey with mail and telephone follow up ................................ 1,987 663 $20.00 $13,260 

Total .......................................................................................... 1,987 663 20.00 13,260 

* Based upon the average wages, ‘‘National Compensation Survey: Occupational Wages in the United States, June 2006,’’ U.S. Department of 

Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (http://www.bls.gov/ncs/home.htm. Last viewed August 27, 2007.) 

Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal 

Government 

The total cost to the Government for 

developing this survey is approximately 

$880,000. The contracted costs include 

approximately $600,000 for survey 

development, $110,000 for data 

collection and $90,000 for analysis of 

field test results. Total costs also 

include $80,000 in AHRQ staff costs. 

Request for Comments 

In accordance with the above-cited 

Paperwork Reduction Act legislation, 

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 healthcare research and 

healthcare dissemination functions, 

including whether the information will 

have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of 

AHRQ’s estimate of burden (including 

the hours and costs) of the proposed 

collection 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: November 29, 2007. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. 07–5949 Filed 12–5–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M 

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, Department of Health and 

Human Services. 

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) allow the renewal of the 

generic information collection project: 

‘‘Questionnaire and Data Collection 

Testing, Evaluation, and Research for 

the Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality.’’ In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

Public Law 104–13 (44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(2)(A)), AHRQ invites the public 

to comment on this proposed 

information collection. 

This proposed information collection 

was previously published in the Federal 

Register on August 15, 2007 and 

allowed 60 days for public comment. No 

comments were received. A 30-day 

Federal Register notice was published 

on October 19, 2007 to allow an 

additional 30 days for public comment. 

No comments were received. However, 

changes to the estimated annual 

respondent burden hours and the 

methodologies that will be used for the 

data collection require an additional 30 

days for public comment. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by January 7, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be submitted to: AHRQ’s OMB Desk 

Officer by fax at (202) 395–6974 

(attention: AHRQ’s desk officer) or by 

e-mail at 

OIRA_submission@omb.eop.gov 

(attention: AHRQ’s desk officer). 

Copies of the proposed collection 

plans, data collection instruments, and 

specific details on the estimated burden 

can be obtained from AHRQ’s Reports 

Clearance Officer. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ, Reports 

Clearance Officer, (301) 427-1477. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project 

‘‘Questionnaire and Data Collection 

Testing, Evaluation, and Research for 

the Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality.’’

AHRQ plans to employ the latest 

techniques to improve its current data 

collections by developing new surveys, 

or information collection tools and 

methods, and by revising existing 

collections in anticipation of, or in 

response to, changes in the healthcare 

field, for a three-year period. The 

clearance request is limited to research 

on information collection tools and 

methods, and related reports and does 

not extend to the collection of data for 

public release. 

A generic clearance for this work 

allows AHRQ to draft and test 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES