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 “Use of Open-Ended Responses to Explore Disparities in Patient Experience.” The purpose of this notice is to allow 60 days for public comment.

DATES:

Comments on this notice must be received by August 28, 2023.

ADDRESSES:

Written comments should be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz, Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, by email at doris.lefkowitz@AHRQ.hhs.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ Reports Clearance Officer, (301) 427–1477, or by email at doris.lefkowitz@AHRQ.hhs.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposed Project

Use of Open-Ended Responses To Explore Disparities in Patient Experience

The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) program, which is sponsored by AHRQ, has the purpose of advancing the scientific understanding of the patient experience of care, including the development and testing of new surveys and/or approaches to data collection to promote or improve the collection of consumer reports and evaluations of their experiences with health care.

This Project has the following goals:

(1) Use open-ended (narrative) responses to provide context, detail, and understanding regarding observed differences in patient experience based on race, ethnicity, gender, and preferred language.

(2) Use Clinician and Group -CAHPS Narrative Item Set (NIS)-generated narrative data to examine potential algorithmic bias in natural language programs (NLP) that could potentially be used to code large quantities of narrative data.

(3) Where algorithmic bias is uncovered, use this analysis to identify adjustments that can be applied to both the input for these programs or the outputs.

This project is being conducted by AHRQ through its contractor, the RAND Corporation, 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 healthcare services and with respect to quality measurement and improvement. 42 U.S.C 299a(a)(1) and (2).

Method of Collection

To achieve the goals of this project the following data collections will be implemented:

Online survey: Data will be collected from a sample of 4,998 survey respondents drawn from the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, a large nationwide online panel of American adults (over 50,000 panelists) with demographic characteristics consistent with the adult U.S. population. Equal-sized subsamples will be drawn for each of the following groups: non-Hispanic Asian American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; non-Hispanic Black; Spanish-speaking Hispanic; English-speaking Hispanic; non-Hispanic Multiracial; and non-Hispanic White. Within these six subsamples, we will strive to recruit a roughly equal split of men and women. The survey will be fielded in English and Spanish based on respondent-preferred language.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annualized burden hours for survey respondents' time to participate in this data collection. All participants will complete the Online Survey, which is estimated to take 17 minutes per response. The total annual burden hours are estimated to be 1,416 hours.

Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annualized cost burden associated with the respondents' time to participate in this data collection. The cost burden is estimated to be $39,662.

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.