3726 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 14 / Tuesday, January 22, 2008 / Notices 

otherwise noted, these activities will be 

conducted throughout the United States. 

Each notice is available for inspection 

at the Federal Reserve Bank indicated. 

The notice also will be available for 

inspection at the offices of the Board of 

Governors. Interested persons may 

express their views in writing on the 

question whether the proposal complies 

with the standards of section 4 of the 

BHC Act. Additional information on all 

bank holding companies may be 

obtained from the National Information 

Center website at www.ffiec.gov/nic/. 

Unless otherwise noted, comments 

regarding the applications must be 

received at the Reserve Bank indicated 

or the offices of the Board of Governors 

not later than February 5, 2008. 

A. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 

(Glenda Wilson, Community Affairs 

Officer) 411 Locust Street, St. Louis, 

Missouri 63166-2034: 

1. Hancock Bancorp, Inc. Hawesville, 

Kentucky; to acquire 100 percent of the 

voting shares of Community First 

Bancorp, Inc., Madisonville, Kentucky, 

and thereby indirectly acquire 

Community First Bank, Madisonville, 

Kentucky, and engage in operating a 

savings association pursuant to section 

225.28(b)(4)(ii) of Regulation Y. 

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System, January 16, 2008. 

Robert deV. Frierson, 

Deputy Secretary of the Board. 

[FR Doc. E8–976 Filed 1–18–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6210–01–S 

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 

Notice of Proposals to Engage in 

Permissible Nonbanking Activities or 

to Acquire Companies that are 

Engaged in Permissible Nonbanking 

Activities 

The companies listed in this notice 

have given notice under section 4 of the 

Bank Holding Company Act (12 U.S.C. 

1843) (BHC Act) and Regulation Y (12 

CFR Part 225) to engage de novo, or to 

acquire or control voting securities or 

assets of a company, including the 

companies listed below, that engages 

either directly or through a subsidiary or 

other company, in a nonbanking activity 

that is listed in § 225.28 of Regulation Y 

(12 CFR 225.28) or that the Board has 

determined by Order to be closely 

related to banking and permissible for 

bank holding companies. Unless 

otherwise noted, these activities will be 

conducted throughout the United States. 

Each notice is available for inspection 

at the Federal Reserve Bank indicated. 

The notice also will be available for 

inspection at the offices of the Board of 

Governors. Interested persons may 

express their views in writing on the 

question whether the proposal complies 

with the standards of section 4 of the 

BHC Act. Additional information on all 

bank holding companies may be 

obtained from the National Information 

Center website at www.ffiec.gov/nic/. 

Unless otherwise noted, comments 

regarding the applications must be 

received at the Reserve Bank indicated 

or the offices of the Board of Governors 

not later than February 15, 2008. 

A. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 

(Glenda Wilson, Community Affairs 

Officer) 411 Locust Street, St. Louis, 

Missouri 63166-2034: 

1. Hancock Bancorp, Inc. Hawesville, 

Kentucky; to acquire 100 percent of the 

voting shares of Community First 

Bancorp, Inc., Madisonville, Kentucky, 

and thereby indirectly acquire 

Community First Bank, Madisonville, 

Kentucky, and engage in operating a 

savings association pursuant to section 

225.28(b)(4)(ii) of Regulation Y. 

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System, January 16, 2008. 

Robert deV. Frierson, 

Deputy Secretary of the Board. 

[FR Doc. E8–985 Filed 1–18–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6210–01–S 

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: 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: 

‘‘Assessment of the Emergency Severity 

Index (ESI).’’ 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 March 24, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz, 

Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, by email at doris.lefkowitz@ahrq.hhs.gov. 

Copies of the proposed collection 

plans, data collection instruments, and 

specific details on the estimated burden 

can be obtained from the AHRQ Reports 

Clearance Officer. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ Reports 

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

e-mail at doris.lefkowitz@ahrq.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project 

‘‘Assessment of the Emergency Severity 

Index (ESI)’’

AHRQ is proposing to examine uptake 

and use of an emergency room triage 

tool, the Emergency Severity Index 

(ESI). The hospital emergency 

department (ED) represents a critical 

point in care delivery for patients across 

the United States. Over the past decade, 

however, the dramatic influx of patients 

into EDs has seriously challenged the 

ability of these departments to deliver 

timely, quality, and safe emergency 

health care services. Moreover, with 

most emergency departments operating 

at or over capacity it may prove difficult 

for them to respond to the surge in 

emergency room demand created by 

natural and man-made disasters. 

Development of increasingly refined 

and validated triage methods is one 

potential key to addressing 

overcrowding by speeding up the care 

delivery to the most acute ED patients 

while helping hospitals assess, carefully 

allocate and plan the amount of human 

and other resources needed to care for 

all patients. 

In response to a need to standardize 

the triage process and improve the flow 

of patients, Richard C. Wuerz, M.D., 

(Department of Emergency Medicine at 

the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and 

the Harvard Medical School) and David 

R. Eitel, M.D., (Department of 

Emergency Medicine, The York Hospital 

WellSpan Health System) initiated 

development of the Emergency Severity 

Index (ESI) in 1995. The ESI is unique 

in its focus on appropriate resource 

allocation and its consideration of 

necessary resource utilization in 

assigning acuity. To encourage adoption 

of the ESI, AHRQ developed an 

implementation handbook (Emergency 

Severity Index, Version 4) and 

companion DVDs. These materials are 

intended to provide hospitals and triage 

nurses with background on why they 

might want to implement the ESI as a 

triage tool, and offers recommendations 

on the implementation process and staff 

training. 

This project will assess the product’s 

acceptance by emergency departments 

and others involved in addressing 

medical surges to better understand the 

usefulness of the ESI compared to other 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 14 / Tuesday, January 22, 2008 / Notices 3727 

similar tools. It will focus on the 

satisfaction with the product’s 

presentation, content, and clarity; extent 

to which the product has improved 

emergency services and surge 

preparation; and the improvements 

users would like to see in the next 

version of this product. This will be 

accomplished through (1) developing 

and implementing an electronic and 

paper-based survey targeting emergency 

department professionals assessing the 

satisfaction with the ESI’s content, 

clarity and actual use of the system in 

everyday emergency departments, and 

(2) convening focus groups of ED 

professionals to identify characteristics 

that might predict uptake and use of this 

system in participating emergency 

departments. 

Method of Collection 

Survey: A randomly selected sample 

of 600 ED professionals from the 

database AHRQ maintains of 

individuals and organizations that 

requested a copy of the ESI tools will be 

contacted to participate in the survey. 

Where a phone number has been 

provided, we will do a reverse 

telephone number search to identify the 

mailing address of the requestor and 

conduct a mail survey with telephone 

follow-up. For those who have provided 

an e-mail address, we will send a link 

to a web survey. Telephone and e-mail 

prompts will be sent after two weeks to 

those who have not yet completed the 

questionnaire, followed by two 

additional remainders sent three weeks 

apart. The expected response rate of 80 

percent will result in 480 respondents to 

the survey with approximately half from 

ED physicians and half from ED nurses. 

Focus Groups: Focus groups will be 

conducted to gauge ED managers’ and 

clinicians’ awareness of the ESI tool as 

well as AHRQ’s role in ED surge 

planning and preparation. To the extent 

that we are able to identify a subgroup 

of ED representatives who are aware of 

the ESI tool but have chosen not to 

utilize it in their emergency 

departments, focus groups may also be 

useful to gather information on why 

these organizations opted not to employ 

the ESI. In order to facilitate 

communication among focus group 

participants and ensure that responses 

address the key issues identified in the 

focus group guide, we will limit 

participation in each focus group 

meeting to between six and eight 

individuals. A total of four focus group 

meetings will be held, including two 

meetings each with ED medical 

directors, and ED triage nurses. 

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden 

EXHIBIT 1.—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Data collection effort Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Hours per 

response 

Total burden 

hours 

ED professionals survey .................................................................................. 480 1 30/60 240 

ED professionals focus groups ........................................................................ 32 1 1.5 48 

Total .......................................................................................................... 512 na na 288 

EXHIBIT 2.—ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST BURDEN

Data collection effort Number of 

respondents 

Total burden 

hours 

Average 

hourly wage 

rate * 

Total cost 

burden 

ED professionals survey .................................................................................. 480 240 $43.93 $10,544

ED professionals focus groups ........................................................................ 32 48 43.93 2,109 

Total .......................................................................................................... 512 288 na 12,653 

* Based upon the mean of the average wages of ED physicians and nurses, National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United 

States 2006, ‘‘U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.’’

This information collection will not 

impose a cost burden on respondents 

beyond that associated with their time 

to provide the required data. There will 

be no additional costs for capital 

equipment, software, computer services, 

etc. 

Estimated Annual Costs to the Federal 

Government 

Developing and implementing the 

survey, $183,305. 

Developing and conducting focus 

groups, $69,669. 

Analyzing the data and report 

production, $26,172. 

Associated personnel costs, $17,073. 

The total cost to the government for 

this activity is estimated to be $296,219. 

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 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: January 14, 2008. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

Director. 

[FR Doc. 08–170 Filed 1–18–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES