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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.