Healthcare Agency Seeks Comments on Its Familiar Survey Routine
Published Date: 10/28/2026
Notice
Summary
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality wants to keep using its current survey and data collection methods for three more years without changes. This helps them improve how they gather info, making it easier for people and small businesses to participate. If you have thoughts, you’ve got until December 28, 2026, to share them—no extra costs or big changes coming!
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
AHRQ seeks 3-year extension without change
AHRQ will ask OMB to extend, without change, its generic clearance for questionnaire and data collection testing for three years so it can keep drafting and testing toolkits, survey instruments, and estimation procedures. The current clearance expires on 2027-03-31; AHRQ says these activities will be voluntary and respondent confidentiality will be preserved.
Estimated respondent time and cost burden
If you are asked to take part in AHRQ's preliminary research activities, the agency estimates total annual respondent burden of 2,967 hours across methods and an adjusted annual cost burden of $310,111. Example counts and times: mail/email surveys ~2,000 respondents at 20 minutes each; web surveys ~1,000 at 10 minutes; focus groups ~500 people at about 2 hours; telephone surveys ~200 at 40 minutes.
AHRQ tools shared with private sector
AHRQ says many of the tools it develops from these testing activities are made available to the private sector to help improve health care quality. You could access or use those toolkits if your organization adopts them.
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Key Dates
Department and Agencies
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