2018-20777. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

AGENCY:

Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, DoD.

ACTION:

30-Day information collection notice.

SUMMARY:

The Department of Defense has submitted to OMB for clearance the following proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

DATES:

Consideration will be given to all comments received by October 29, 2018.

ADDRESSES:

Comments and recommendations on the proposed information collection should be emailed to Ms. Cortney Higgins, DoD Desk Officer, at [e-mail]. Please identify the proposed information collection by DoD Desk Officer, Docket ID number, and title of the information collection.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Fred Licari, 571-372-0493, or [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title; Associated Form; and OMB Number: Department of Defense Patient Safety Culture Survey; OMB Control Number 0720-0034.

Type of Request: Revision.

Number of Respondents: 9,200.

Responses per Respondent: 1.

Annual Responses: 9,200.

Average Burden per Response: 10 minutes.

Annual Burden Hours: 1,533.

Needs and Uses: The 2001 National Defense Authorization Act contains specific sections addressing patient safety in military and veterans' health care systems. This legislation states that the Secretary of Defense shall establish a patient care error reporting and management system to study occurrences of errors in patient care and that one purpose of the system should be to “identify systemic factors that are associated with such occurrences” and “to provide for action to be taken to correct the identified systemic factors” (Sec. 754, items b2 and b3). In addition, the legislation states that the Secretary shall “continue research and development investments to improve communication, coordination, and team work in the provision of health care”. (Sec. 754, item d4).

In its ongoing response to this legislation and in support of its mission to “promote a culture of safety to eliminate preventable patient harm by engaging, educating and equipping patient-care teams to institutionalize evidence-based safe practices,” the DoD Patient Safety Program plans to field the Department of Defense Patient Safety Culture Survey. The Culture Survey is based on the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's validated survey instrument. The survey obtains MHS staff opinions on patient safety issues such as teamwork, communications, medical error occurrence and response, error reporting, and overall perceptions of patient safety.

Affected Public: Federal Government; Individuals or Households.

Frequency: As required.

Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

OMB Desk Officer: Ms. Cortney Higgins.

You may also submit comments and recommendations, identified by Docket ID number and title, by the following method:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name, Docket ID number, and title for this Federal Register document. The general policy for comments and other submissions from members of the public is to make these submissions available for public viewing on the internet at http://www.regulations.gov as they are received without change, including any personal identifiers or contact information.

DOD Clearance Officer: Mr. Frederick Licari.

Requests for copies of the information collection proposal should be sent to Mr. Licari at [e-mail].

Dated: September 19, 2018.

Shelly E. Finke,

Alternate OSD Federal Register, Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.