[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 49 (Monday, March 15, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12811-12813]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-6211]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[INFO-99-11]
Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and
Recommendations
In compliance with the requirement of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for opportunity for public comment on
proposed data collection projects, the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention. To request more information on the proposed projects or to
obtain a copy of the data collection plans and instruments, call the
CDC Reports Clearance Officer on (404) 639-7090.
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection 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 on respondents,
including through the use of automated collection techniques for other
forms of information technology. Send comments to Seleda Perryman, CDC
Assistant Reports Clearance Officer, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D24,
Atlanta, GA 30333. Written comments should be received with 60 days of
this notice.
Proposed Project
1. National Sexually Transmitted Disease Morbidity Surveillance
System--Extension--(0920-0011)--The National Center for HIV, STD, and
TB Prevention (NCHSTP)--The reports used for this surveillance system
provide ongoing surveillance data on national sexually transmitted
disease
[[Page 12812]]
morbidity. The data are used by health care planners at the national,
state, and local (including selected metropolitan and territorial
health departments) levels to develop and evaluate STD prevention and
control programs. In addition, there are many other users of the data
including scientists, researchers, educators, and the media. STD data
gathered in these reports are used to produce national statistics
published in the annual STD Surveillance Report, MMWR articles, and
serve as a progress report to meet objectives in Healthy People 2000:
Midcourse Review and 1995 Revisions. It is important to note that these
reporting forms are in the process of being phased out and replaced by
electronic, line-listed STD data collected in the National Electronic
Telecommunications System for Surveillance (NETSS).
Costs are covered by way of cooperative agreements to the project
areas. The annual cost to respondents is estimated at $12,627 based on
an estimated hourly salary of $15.25 for health department personnel
responsible for completing these forms.
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No. of
Forms No. of responses/ Avg. burden Total burden
respondents respondent (in hrs.) (in hrs.)
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CDC 73.688 *.................................... 36 4 1 144
CDC 73.688 * *.................................. 27 4 1 108
CDC 73.998...................................... 36 12 0.5833 252
CDC 73.2638..................................... 36 3 3 324
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Total....................................... .............. .............. .............. 828
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*State-level reporting: Respondents for the state-specific CDC 73.688 forms now include 26 state health
departments (originally, respondents included 50 states, but 24 states have now discontinued hardcopy
reporting and send all STD data as electronic line-listed records through NETSS), seven large city health
departments and three outlying areas.
* * City-level reporting: The health departments for the 26 states and one of the outlying regions (Puerto Rico)
also prepare and submit reports for additional large cities within their jurisdictions.
2. Evaluation of the Needlestick Injury Alert--NEW--The mission of
the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is to
promote ``safety and health at work for all people through research and
prevention.'' NIOSH not only investigates and identifies occupational
safety and health hazards, the Institute also develops recommendations
for controlling those hazards. In some cases, NIOSH distributes these
recommendations about the hazard directly to affected workplaces.
One way that NIOSH accomplishes this is through the Alert. The
Alert is usually a six to ten page document that outlines the causes
and detection of the hazard and recommendations for controlling the
risk to workers. One of the central goals of the Alert is to educate
employers and encourage them to take steps to reduce the risks to their
workers. It is also important that the recommendations in the Alert
provide them with sufficient information.
The Alert chosen for this study concerns the risk of needlestick
injuries (NSI) to health care workers. Although there is not precise
information about the frequency of NSI in the United States, it has
been estimated that approximately 800,000 of these injuries occur each
year. As a result of NSI, health care workers can be exposed to HIV,
and the Hepatitis B and C viruses. It is believed that the incidence of
NSI account for the majority of occupational transmission of these
pathogens to health care workers.
In the proposed study, NIOSH will send the Alert to one of two
individuals with formal responsibility for employee health and safety
in hospitals--Directors of Infection Control and Directors of Health
and Safety. NIOSH will then follow-up with a randomly selected sample
of hospitals at two points in time. The recipient of the Alert will be
interviewed two to six weeks after the Alert was sent and ten to
fourteen weeks later, the other key individual will be interviewed.
Broadly, the goals of the study are to: (1) assess whether, and
under what circumstances, the Alert encourages employers to adopt
control measures, and (2) ascertain whether the information in the
Alert assists employers in implementing control measures. Overall, the
hope is that the study will reveal ways of making the Alert a more
effective tool for primary prevention. The total cost to respondents is
$0.00.
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No. of
Respondents No. of responses/ Avg. burden Total burden
respondents respondent per response
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Directors of Infection Control.................. 450 1 0.3333 149
Directors of Health and Safety.................. 450 1 0.3333 149
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Total....................................... .............. .............. .............. 297
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3. Cancer Morbidity and Mortality Among Current and Former
Employees of the National Center for Health Statistics--NEW--Employees
of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) have raised
concerns regarding the number of cancers occurring among the staff in
recent years and have asked NCHS management to investigate this
possible cancer excess. The purpose of the proposed study is to
determine the actual number of cancers that have been diagnosed among
the employees of NCHS since 1991, and to determine whether the rate of
cancer deviates from what would be expected based on rates for the
Washington suburban area. A questionnaire will be sent to each person
employed at NCHS during 1991 asking whether s/he has been diagnosed
with cancer and requesting permission to contact their physician for
confirmation; other questions will be included on the questionnaire,
including their family history of cancer, location of NCHS office, and
smoking status. These data will be used to judge whether the employee
cohort has an unusual cancer risk profile compared to other similar
cohorts and, subsequently, whether an in-depth epidemiologic study is
necessary. Respondents include both current and former employees, but
[[Page 12813]]
for purposes of calculating a total burden under the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, only retirees and other former employees are
counted. The total cost to respondents is estimated at $645.
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No. of Avg. burden/
Respondents No. of responses/ response (in Total burden
respondents respondent hrs.) (in hrs.)
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Former employees............................ 86 1 0.25 21.5
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Dated: February 24, 1999.
Nancy Cheal,
Acting Associate Director for Policy, Planning and Evaluation, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
[FR Doc. 99-6211 Filed 3-12-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P
