Legal Status This site displays a prototype of a “Web 2.0” version of the daily
Federal Register. It is not an official legal edition of the Federal
Register, and does not replace the official print version or the official
electronic version on GPO’s govinfo.gov.

The documents posted on this site are XML renditions of published Federal
Register documents. Each document posted on the site includes a link to the
corresponding official PDF file on govinfo.gov. This prototype edition of the
daily Federal Register on FederalRegister.gov will remain an unofficial
informational resource until the Administrative Committee of the Federal
Register (ACFR) issues a regulation granting it official legal status.
For complete information about, and access to, our official publications
and services, go to About the Federal Register on NARA's archives.gov.

The OFR/GPO partnership is committed to presenting accurate and reliable
regulatory information on FederalRegister.gov with the objective of
establishing the XML-based Federal Register as an ACFR-sanctioned
publication in the future. While every effort has been made to ensure that
the material on FederalRegister.gov is accurately displayed, consistent with
the official SGML-based PDF version on govinfo.gov, those relying on it for
legal research should verify their results against an official edition of
the Federal Register. Until the ACFR grants it official status, the XML
rendition of the daily Federal Register on FederalRegister.gov does not
provide legal notice to the public or judicial notice to the courts.

Legal Status

Notice

Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

A Notice by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality on 03/11/2026

• 1.

1.
This document has a comment period that ends in 27 days.
(04/10/2026) View Comment Instructions

Thank you for taking the time to create a comment. Your input is important.

Once you have filled in the required fields below you can preview and/or submit your comment to the Health and Human Services Department for review. All comments are considered public and will be posted online once the Health and Human Services Department has reviewed them.

You can view alternative ways to comment or you may also comment via Regulations.gov at /documents/2026/03/11/2026-04738/agency-information-collection-activities-proposed-collection-comment-request.

It appears that you have attempted to comment on this document before
so we've restored your progress.
Start over.
1.
2. Comment * What is your comment about? Upload File(s) Note: You can attach your comment as a file and/or attach supporting
documents to your comment. Attachment Requirements.

Email this will NOT be posted on regulations.gov

Opt to receive email confirmation of submission and tracking number? Tell us about yourself! I am... * An Individual An Organization Anonymous First Name * Last Name * City Region State Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virgin Islands Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Zip Country Afghanistan Åland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine, State of Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Réunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Phone Organization Type * Company Organization Federal State Local Tribal Regional Foreign U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Senate Organization Name * You are filing a document into an official docket. Any personal
information included in your comment text and/or uploaded
attachment(s) may be publicly viewable on the web. I read and understand the statement above.

2. Preview Comment Please review the Regulations.gov privacy notice and user notice.
3. Document Details Published Content - Document Details Agencies Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Document Citation 91 FR 11976 Document Number 2026-04738 Document Type Notice Pages 11976-11978 (3 pages) Publication Date 03/11/2026 Published Content - Document Details

• PDF Official Content
  • View printed version (PDF) Official Content
• Document Details Published Content - Document Details Agencies Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Document Citation 91 FR 11976 Document Number 2026-04738 Document Type Notice Pages 11976-11978 (3 pages) Publication Date 03/11/2026 Published Content - Document Details
• Document Dates Published Content - Document Dates Comments Close 04/10/2026 Dates Text Comments on this notice must be received by April 10, 2026. Published Content - Document Dates

• Table of Contents Enhanced Content - Table of Contents This table of contents is a navigational tool, processed from the
  headings within the legal text of Federal Register documents.
  This repetition of headings to form internal navigation links
  has no substantive legal effect.

  • AGENCY:
  • ACTION:
  • SUMMARY:
  • DATES:
  • ADDRESSES:
  • FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
  • SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
  • Proposed Project
  • Method of Collection
  • Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
  • Request for Comments Enhanced Content - Table of Contents

• Public Comments Enhanced Content - Public Comments Comments are being accepted - View Comment Instructions.

Enhanced Content - Public Comments
- Regulations.gov Data Enhanced Content - Regulations.gov Data Additional information is not currently available for this document.

Enhanced Content - Regulations.gov Data

- Sharing Enhanced Content - Sharing Shorter Document URL https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2026-04738 Email Email this document to a friend Enhanced Content - Sharing

• Print Enhanced Content - Print
  • Print this document Enhanced Content - Print
• Document Statistics Enhanced Content - Document Statistics Document page views are updated periodically throughout the day and are cumulative counts for this document. Counts are subject to sampling, reprocessing and revision (up or down) throughout the day.

Page views 109
as of
03/14/2026 at 12:15 pm EDT Enhanced Content - Document Statistics
- Other Formats Enhanced Content - Other Formats This document is also available in the following formats:

JSON Normalized attributes and metadata XML Original full text XML MODS Government Publishing Office metadata More information and documentation can be found in our developer tools pages.

Enhanced Content - Other Formats
- Public Inspection Public Inspection This PDF is FR Doc. 2026-04738 as it appeared on Public Inspection on
03/10/2026 at 8:45 am.

It was viewed
37
times while on Public Inspection.

If you are using public inspection listings for legal research, you
should verify the contents of the documents against a final, official
edition of the Federal Register. Only official editions of the
Federal Register provide legal notice of publication to the public and judicial notice
to the courts under 44 U.S.C. 1503 & 1507. Learn more here.

Public Inspection
Published Document: 2026-04738 (91 FR 11976) This document has been published in the Federal Register. Use the PDF linked in the document sidebar for the official electronic format.

Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain
the following:

1. the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document
2. the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to
3. the agency docket number / agency internal file number
4. the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details.

Department of Health and Human Services

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

AGENCY:

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

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 the extension without change of the previously approved information collection project “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). This information collection was previously published in the Federal Register on November 28, 2025, and allowed 60 days for public comment. No comments were received by AHRQ.

The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comment.

DATES:

Comments on this notice must be received by April 10, 2026.

ADDRESSES:

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function.

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 REPORTSCLEARANCEOFFICER@ahrq.hhs.gov.

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 makes 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?

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)].

( printed page 11977) 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:

• Registration with the site to obtain an account with a secure username and password;
• Submission of DUAs and survey questionnaires;
• Submission of program information form;
• Submission of de-identified survey data files
• Generation of status reports indicating that submitted files are either accepted or rejected; and
• 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.

| Form name | Number of
respondents/POCs * | Number of
responses per POC | Hours per
response | Total burden hours |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 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 |
| Total | NA | NA | NA | 63 |
| * 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.

| Form name | Total burden hours | Average
hourly wage rate * | Adjusted
hourly wage rate ** | Total cost
burden |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 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 |
| Total | 63 | NA | NA | 6,940 |
|  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. ( printed page 11978) | | | | |
| (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: February 6, 2026.

Jeffrey Toven,

Executive Officer.

[FR Doc. 2026-04738 Filed 3-10-26; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160-90-P

Published Document: 2026-04738 (91 FR 11976)