Notice2025-21348
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request
Primary source
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Published
November 28, 2025
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Abstract
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 an extension, without change, of the currently approved "AHRQ Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Home and Community-Based Services Survey (HCBS) Database" (OMB Control number 0935-0245, last approved on January 3, 2023, for three years).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 227 (Friday, November 28, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 227 (Friday, November 28, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54690-54692]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-21348]
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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: Information collection notice.
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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 an extension, without change, of
the currently approved ``AHRQ Consumer Assessment of Healthcare
Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Home and Community-Based Services Survey
(HCBS) Database'' (OMB Control number 0935-0245, last approved on
January 3, 2023, for three years).
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by January 27, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: Margie Shofer,
Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, by email at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3a687f6a75686e6979767f7b687b74797f757c7c73797f687a5b52484b14525249145d554c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1e4c5b4e514c4a4d5d525b5f4c5f505d5b515858575d5b4c5e7f766c6f3076766d30797168">[email protected]</span></a>.
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: Margie Shofer, AHRQ Reports Clearance
Officer, (301) 427-1696, or by email at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#ffadbaafb0adabacbcb3babeadbeb1bcbab0b9b9b6bcbaadbf9e978d8ed197978cd1989089"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="dd8f988d928f898e9e91989c8f9c939e98929b9b949e988f9dbcb5afacf3b5b5aef3bab2ab">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Proposed Project
The CAHPS Home and Community-Based Services Survey (HCBS-CAHPS
Survey) is the first cross-disability survey of home and community-
based service beneficiaries' experience receiving long-term services
and supports. It is designed to facilitate comparisons across state
Medicaid HCBS programs throughout the country that target adults with
disabilities, e.g., including older adults, individuals with physical
disabilities, persons with developmental or intellectual disabilities,
those with acquired brain injury and persons with severe mental
illness.
The HCBS-CAHPS Database serves as a primary source of data
available to states, agency programs and researchers to help answer
important questions related to beneficiary experiences. AHRQ, through
its contractor, collects and make available de-identified survey data,
enabling HCBS programs to identify areas where quality can be improved.
The HCBS-CAHPS Database supports AHRQ's goals of promoting
improvements in the quality and patient-centeredness of health care in
home or community-based care settings.
The HCBS-CAHPS Survey was developed by the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS) for voluntary use by state Medicaid programs,
including both fee-for-service HCBS programs as well as managed long-
term services and supports (MLTSS) programs. States with adequate
sample sizes may consider using survey metrics in value-based
purchasing initiatives.
This research seeks to answer the following questions:
1. What are the key drivers of patient experience in HCBS programs?
2. How do beneficiary experiences with HCBS vary across states and
program types?
[[Page 54691]]
3. What are the highest and lowest scoring measures in specific
domains of HCBS delivery of care?
This research has the following goals:
1. Produce aggregated results from HCBS-CAHPS survey users that
voluntarily submit their data; and
2. Provide feedback reports to HCBS-CAHPS survey users that
voluntarily submit their data to help them identify their strengths and
areas for improvement in patient care.
This study is being conducted by AHRQ through its contractor,
Westat, 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 vale of healthcare services and with
respect to quality measurement and improvement [42 U.S.C 299a(a)(1),
(2) and (8)].
The development and operation of the HCBS-CAHPS Database will
include the following major components undertaken by AHRQ through its
contractor.
1. Program Recruitment. Outreach will be conducted with the HCBS-
CAHPS user community (including state agencies, managed long-term
services and supports (MLTSS) programs, centers for independent living,
improvement collaborative organizations, survey vendors, etc.) to
promote the database and its benefits and encourage voluntary
contributions of survey data. A variety of communications will be used
(e.g., GovDelivery announcements, personal email messages, conference
and meeting presentations, etc.) to present the value case for the
database and key dates and details about submitting data.
2. Data Submission Platform. AHRQ's contractor currently provides a
web-based user-friendly submission platform for both the CAHPS Health
Plan and CAHPS Child Hospital survey data. This platform was used as a
model to develop the HCBS-CAHPS Database submission system, including
data submission specifications; technical assistance and step-by-step
instructions for participation; analysis programs for data cleaning and
reporting; and data use agreements to protect the confidentiality of
the participating organizations and their data.
3. Submission Notifications and Instructions. Clear instructions
and notifications are of paramount importance for successful submission
of valid data, seamless report dissemination, and streamlined
communication with survey vendors, state programs, or other submitters.
Method of Collection
The development and operation of the HCBS-CAHPS Database will
include the following data collection activities:
<bullet> Registration with the site to obtain an account with a
secure username and password;
<bullet> Submission of DUAs and survey questionnaires;
<bullet> Submission of program information form;
<bullet> Submission of de-identified survey data files,
<bullet> Generation of status reports indicating that submitted
files are either accepted or rejected; and
<bullet> Follow-up with submitters in the event of a rejected file,
to assist in making corrections and resubmitting the file.
Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
Exhibit 1 shows the estimated burden hours for the respondents to
participate in the database. The 51 POCs in Exhibit 1 represent the 51
states or agencies that will administer the Adult HCBS survey. An
estimated thirteen survey vendors will assist them.
Each POC will:
1. Register online for submission. The online registration form
will require about five minutes to complete.
2. Complete a program information form of information about each
program such as the name of the program, program size, state, etc. The
online program information form takes on average 5 minutes to complete.
3. Complete a DUA. The DUA requires about 3 minutes to sign and
return by fax or mail.
Each submitter, which in most cases will be the survey vendor
performing the data collection, will provide a copy of their
questionnaire and the survey data file in the required file format.
Survey data files must conform to the data file layout specifications
provided by the HCBS-CAHPS Database. Since the unit of analysis is at
the program level, submitters will upload one data file per program.
Once a data file is uploaded the file will be automatically checked to
ensure it conforms to the specifications and a data file status report
will be produced and made available to the submitter. Submitters will
review each report and will be expected to correct any errors in their
data file and resubmit if necessary. It will take about one hour to
submit the data for each program.
The total burden is estimated to be 63 hours annually.
Exhibit 1--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Number of Number of
Form name respondents/ responses per Hours per Total burden
POCs * POC response hours
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Registration Form............................... 51 1 5/60 4.25
Program Information Form........................ 51 1 5/60 4.25
Data Use Agreement.............................. 51 1 3/60 2.5
Data Files Submission........................... 13 4 1 52
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Total....................................... NA NA NA 63
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* The 51 POC's for the registration form, program information form and the DUA are the estimated POC's from the
estimated participating programs.
Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annualized cost burden based on the
respondents' time to complete one submission process. The cost burden
is estimated to be $6,940 annually.
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Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
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Average Adjusted
Form name Total burden hourly wage hourly wage Total cost
hours rate * rate ** burden
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Registration Form............................... 4.25 \a\ 66.22 132.44 $563
Program Information Form........................ 4.25 \a\ 66.22 132.44 563
Data Use Agreement.............................. 2.5 \b\ 126.41 252.82 632
Data Files Submission........................... 52 \c\ 49.83 99.66 5,182
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Total....................................... 63 NA NA 6,940
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* National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United States May 2024, ``U.S. Department of Labor,
Bureau of Labor Statistics.''
** The Adjusted Hourly Rate was estimated at 200% of the hourly wage.
\a\ Based on the mean hourly wage for Medical and Health Services Managers (11-9111).
\b\ Based on the mean hourly wage for Chief Executives (11-1011).
\c\ Based on the mean hourly wages for Computer Programmers (15-1251).
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.
Dated: November 24, 2025.
Mamatha Pancholi,
Deputy Director.
[FR Doc. 2025-21348 Filed 11-26-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-P
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