Cover Letter

SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION COLLECTION UNDER THE

Request for Approval under AHRQ’s Generic Clearance “Questionnaire and Data Collection Testing, Evaluation, and Research for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality” (OMB Control Number: 0935-0124)

DATE OF REQUEST: March 29, 2021

SUB AGENCY (I/C): HHS/AHRQ

TITLE: Pilot Test of the Revised Data Collection Method for the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component

GENERIC CLEARANCE UNDER OMB#: 0935-0124 EXP. DATE: 01/31/2024

ABSTRACT: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) requests that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve pre-testing clearance 0935-0124 to facilitate AHRQ’s efforts to revise existing collections and procedures. AHRQ uses techniques to simplify data collection and estimation procedures, reduce respondent burden, and improve efficiencies to meet the needs of small business respondents who may have reduced budgets and staff. AHRQ believes that developing, testing, and evaluating data collection and estimation procedures using survey methods and other techniques in anticipation of agency-sponsored studies can improve its information collection efforts and the products it develops and allow AHRQ to be more responsive to fast-changing developments in the healthcare research field.

This clearance request is limited to research on data collection, estimation procedures and reports and does not extend to the collection of data for public release or policy formation. It will allow AHRQ to draft and test data collection and estimation procedures more quickly and with greater lead time, thereby managing project time more efficiently and improving the quality of the data AHRQ collects. In some instances, the ability to test and evaluate data collection and estimation procedures in anticipation of work or early in a project may result in the decision not to proceed with additional activities, thereby saving both public and private resources and effectively eliminating respondent burden.

The preliminary research will not be used by AHRQ to regulate or sanction its customers. They will be entirely voluntary and the confidentiality of respondents and their responses will be preservedThis research has the following objective:

1) Conduct a pilot test data collection of up to 5,000 business establishments from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component (MEPS-IC) survey using the revised method with focus on electronic submission using the secure web-based respondent portal. The revised method uses existing data collection methods but excludes the Research operation and telephone-based procedures. Based on an analysis of results, we will determine which survey processes to retain and refine the collection accordingly.

TOTAL ANNUAL BURDEN APPROVED: 8900 Hours Per year

BURDEN USED TO DATE: 165 hours.

BURDEN THIS REQUEST: 1180 hours.

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $203,678_____.

IS RACE AND ETHNICITY DATA COLLECTED AS REQUIRED?

______YES ______ NO _____x_ N/A

OBLIGATION TO RESPOND:

___x__VOLUNTARY

______ REQUIRED TO OBTAIN OR RETAIN BENEFITS

______ MANDATORY

HOW WILL THIS SURVEY BE OFFERED?

__X____ WEB SITE

__ _ TELEPHONE INTERVIEW

__ ___ MAIL RESPONSE [email]

____ IN PERSON INTERVIEW

_____ OTHER: ___________________________________

CONTACT INFORMATION:

NAME: _Karen Davis________________________________________

TELEPHONE NUMBER: _ (301) 427-1679_____________________

EMAIL ADDRESS: karen.davis@ahrq.hhs.gov_________________________