Million Hearts Social Network Analysis—Key Informant Interviews

Million Hearts Social Network Analysis—Key Informant Interviews

ASPE Generic Information Collection Request

OMB No. 0990-0421

Supporting Statement – Section A

Submitted: January 29, 2016

Contracting Officer Representative

Daniel Duplantier

Social Science Analyst
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation

200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington DC 20201

202.260.6544

Daniel.Duplantier@hhs.gov

Section A – Justification

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

Background

Heart attacks and strokes contribute to the almost 800,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease each year. The trauma to families and communities is devastating; the cost to the US economy is nearly $1 billion each day in medical costs and lost productivity. To achieve sustainable prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services launched Million Hearts®, a five-year national initiative co-led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS), to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. Million Hearts® focuses on aligning the efforts of federal agencies, states, regions, health systems, communities and individuals towards this common goal, ensuring the coordination of public health, clinical care, and policy approaches to this complex problem. Collaborative efforts among organizations with a variety of programming, resources and skill sets have been shown to result in higher levels of community impact. Integrated efforts to address public health issues by involving multiple stakeholders are predicted to result in better health outcomes than programs that do not use a collaborative approach.

Million Hearts® could be an example of a public-private partnership that HHS may be able to model in the future. Therefore this study will examine how partnerships may have played a role in Million Hearts® and the study will also examine if HHS can model similar partner engagement efforts.

2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (HHS/ASPE) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded a contract to RAND to examine partnership engagement and the level of communication among Million Hearts® (MH) partners.

The goals of this project are to:

1. Describe the partnership engagement process and level of strength and interaction among partners in the MH Initiative.

2. Assess changes in the activities, programs, policies, or systems that have may have occurred as a result of the MH Initiative.

3. Identify facilitators and barriers to public-private partnerships with the federal government.

4. Synthesize the information obtained through the above three aims to inform future partnership efforts.

To address the first and second components of the study, the contractor will conduct a qualitative assessment that will include an environmental scan, as well as stakeholder engagement through key informant interviews (KII) that will provide respondents for a social/organizational network analysis. This methodology should provide information on activities conducted as a result of participation and partnership with MH and identify facilitators and barriers of public/private partnerships with the federal government. The key informant interviews will be 1-hour semi-structured telephone interviews with key staff representing federal agencies and private MH partners. Informants will be in a supervisory role in the organization and have extensive knowledge of the MH Initiative and their organization’s relevant activities. All notes will be coded in Dedoose within 24 hours of each interview, and thematic analysis will be used to identify barriers, facilitators, effective MH policies, and ineffective aspects of the Initiative.

To address the third component of the study, the contractor will then conduct a Social/Organizational Network Analysis that will focus specifically on the network of MH partner engagement. The previously conducted qualitative interviews will inform this organizational analysis of information sharing and influence across the public and private sector partner network. Goals 1 and 2 of this study will not be used to inform policy decisions. We will use the results to begin to identify and potentially validate questions that may be incorporated into the social network analysis survey for which we will obtain a full clearance using a separate OMB Information Collection Request.

3. Use of Improved Information Technology and Burden Reduction

Data will be collected via telephone interviews. We will use computers to take notes and qualitative data analysis software (Dedoose) to conduct data analysis.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information

To our knowledge, there is no information that has been or is currently being collected similar to these. This is an exploratory study to answer questions that we currently do not have the data to answer. As part of this project, an environmental scan will be conducted to identify any research that has been done regarding Million Hearts partnerships.

5. Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities

No small businesses will be involved in this data collection.

6. Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently

This request is for a one time data collection.

7. Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5

There are no special circumstances with this information collection package. This request fully complies with the regulation 5 CFR 1320.5 and will be voluntary.

8. Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside the Agency

This data collection is being conducted using the Generic Information Collection mechanism through ASPE – OMB No. 0990-0421.

9. Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents

We will not be providing incentives for this study.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents

We are not asking any personally identifiable information of respondents, but rather only about their experience in their professional capacity. We are asking them to provide information about their connection and communication with others in the MH network.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

We will not be asking any questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours and Costs

The key informant interviews will take approximately one hour to complete.

Table A-12: Estimated Annualized Burden Hours and Costs to Respondents

Type of Respondent	No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden per Response (in hours)	Total Burden Hours	Hourly Wage Rate	Total Respondent Costs
Private Sector, State, & Local Partners	50	1	1	50	$34.21	$1,710.50
TOTALS	50	50		50		$1,710.50

13. Estimates of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents or Record Keepers

There will be no direct costs to the respondents other than their time to participate in the data collection.

14. Annualized Cost to the Government

Table A-14: Estimated Annualized Cost to the Federal Government

Staff (FTE)	Average Hours per Collection	Average Hourly Rate	Average Cost
Social Science Analyst, GS 11	30	33.00	$990
Social Science Analyst, GS 15	20	76.00	$1,520
Estimated Total Cost of Information Collection			$2,510

15. Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments

This is a new data collection.

16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule

1. Describe the partnership engagement process and level of strength and interaction among partners in the MH Initiative.

2. To assess changes in the activities, programs, policies, or systems that have occurred as a result of the MH Initiative.

3. Identify facilitators and barriers to public-private partnerships with the federal government.

4. Synthesize the information obtained through the above three aims to inform future partnership efforts.

Goals 1 and 2: Describe the partnership engagement process and level of strength and interaction among partners in the MH Initiative.

Assess changes in the activities, programs, or systems that may have occurred as a result of the MH Initiative.

We (RAND, CDC, and ASPE) will conduct an environmental scan and key informant interviews to address the first and second goals of the project. We have developed a draft guide for key informant interviews to be administered to staff from Million Hearts (MH) partner organizations. A small technical working group (TWG) of federal staff who work extensively on MH will provide suggestions on key informants to interview and will also be used to pilot the interview guide.

We anticipate conducting between 30-50 interviews with key staff representing organizations in the MH network. The interview guide will focus on the following topics: network partners, collaborations with partners, effective communication strategies, new partnerships, lost partnerships, and changes in organizational activities. Each interview will be tailored to incorporate unique information about the specific organization the interviewee represents.

Timeline:

Completion Date	Major Tasks/Milestones
December 2015	Submit request for OMB approval under an existing generic PRA clearance Submit project for IRB approval Recruit Federal Technical Working Group (TWG)
January 2016	Receive draft Environmental Scan for review Provide feedback and finalize Environmental scan Receive OMB approval under an existing generic PRA clearance Receive IRB approval
February 2016	Receive qualitative analysis plan Provide feedback and finalize analysis plan
April 2016	Draft interview guide; send to TWG for review Receive list of potential key informants Provide feedback and finalize list of informants and interview guide
April—July 2016	Conduct key informant interviews Submit full IC request for OMB approval of social network survey
June—July 2016	Receive list of potential social network survey respondents Draft social network survey Develop dissemination plan
August 2016	Conduct qualitative data analysis on informant interviews Revise and finalize list of social network survey respondents Revise and finalize social network survey
September 2016	Present preliminary findings from qualitative interviews Conduct social network survey
November 2016	Present findings from interviews and social network analysis
December 2016—January 2017	Present final report Deliver final briefings and presentation of results

17. Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate

We are requesting no exemption.

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

There are no exceptions to the certification. These activities comply with the requirements in 5 CFR 1320.9.

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS – Section A

Note: Attachments are included as separate files as instructed.

1. Draft interview guide