Sept 1 -- The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) invites comments to OMB by October 13, 2022 regarding the proposed information collection project: “Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture Comparative Database.”
The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (Hospital SOPS) is designed to enable hospitals to assess provider and staff perspectives about patient safety issues, medical error, and error reporting. The Hospital SOPS includes 42 items that measure 12 composites of patient safety culture. AHRQ first made the Hospital SOPS publicly available, along with a Survey User's Guide and other toolkit materials, in November 2004, on the AHRQ website.
The Hospital SOPS Database consists of data from the AHRQ Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture and may include reportable, non-required supplemental items. Hospitals in the U.S. can voluntarily submit data from the survey to AHRQ, through its contractor, Westat. The Hospital SOPS Database (OMB No. 0935-0162, last approved on August 21, 2019) was developed by AHRQ in 2006 in response to requests from hospitals interested in tracking their own survey results. Those organizations submitting data receive a feedback report, as well as a report of the aggregated de-identified findings of the other hospitals submitting data. These reports are used to assist hospital staff in their efforts to improve patient safety culture in their organizations.
The Hospital SOPS and the Hospital SOPS Database support AHRQ's goals of promoting improvements in the quality and safety of health care in hospital settings. The survey, toolkit materials, and database results are all made publicly available on AHRQ's website. Technical assistance is provided by AHRQ through its contractor at no charge to hospitals, to facilitate the use of these materials for hospital patient safety and quality improvement. This database will:
(1) present results from hospitals that voluntarily submit their data,
(2) provide data to hospitals to facilitate internal assessment and learning in the patient safety improvement process, and
(3) provide supplemental information to help hospitals identify their strengths and areas with potential for improvement in patient safety culture.
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 value of healthcare services and with respect to surveys and database development. 42 U.S.C 299a(a)(1) and (8).
Method of Collection
(1) Eligibility and Registration Form—The hospital point-of-contact (POC) completes a number of data submission steps and forms, beginning with the completion of an online Eligibility and Registration Form. The purpose of this form is to collect basic demographic information about the hospital and initiate the registration process.
(2) Data Use Agreement—The purpose of the data use agreement, completed by the hospital POC, is to state how data submitted by hospitals will be used and provide privacy assurances.
(3) Hospital Site Information Form—The purpose of the site information form, also completed by the hospital POC, is to collect background characteristics of the hospital. This information will be used to analyze data collected with the Hospital SOPS survey.
(4) Data Files Submission—POCs upload their data file(s), using hospital data file specifications, to ensure that users submit standardized and consistent data in the way variables are named, coded, and formatted. The number of submissions to the database is likely to vary each year because hospitals do not administer the survey and submit data every year. Data submission is typically handled by one POC who is either a patient safety manager in the hospital or a survey vendor who contracts with a hospital to collect and submit their data. POCs submit data on behalf of 3 hospitals, on average, because many hospitals are part of a health system that includes many hospitals, or the POC is a vendor that is submitting data for multiple hospitals.
SOPS Hospital Database:
https://www.ahrq.gov/sops/databases/hospital/index.html
AHRQ submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202208-0935-002 Click IC List for survey instrument, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation. Submit comments through this site.
FR notice inviting comment:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2022-18855 (While FRN was posted Sept 1, submission to OMB made Sept 13. 30 days=Oct 13)
For AEA members wishing to submit comments to OMB, the AEA Committee on Economic Statistics offers "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806