2013-19270. 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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects. To request more information on the proposed projects or to obtain a copy of the data collection plans and instruments, call 404-639-7570 and send comments to LeRoy Richardson, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, GA 30333 or send an email to [e-mail].

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 or other forms of information technology. Written comments should be received within 60 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS)—Revision—Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (OSELS), Public Health Surveillance and Informatics Program Office (PHSIPO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

The Public Health Services Act (42 U.S.C. 241) authorizes CDC to disseminate nationally notifiable condition information. The Nationally Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS) is based on data collected at the state, territorial and local levels as a result of legislation and regulations in those jurisdictions that require health care providers, medical laboratories, and other entities to submit health-related data on reportable conditions to public health departments. These reportable conditions, which include infectious and non-infectious diseases, vary by jurisdiction depending upon each jurisdiction's health priorities and needs. Currently approximately 300 conditions are reportable in one or more of the states. Since infectious disease agents and environmental hazards often cross geographical boundaries, public health departments have to be able to share data on certain conditions across jurisdictions and coordinate program activities to prevent and control the conditions. Each year, the Council of State and Territorial Disease Epidemiologists (CSTE), supported by CDC, performs an assessment of conditions reported to state, territorial and local jurisdictions to determine which should be designated nationally notifiable conditions. For conditions that are nationally notifiable, case notifications are voluntarily submitted to CDC so that information can be shared across jurisdictional boundaries and both surveillance and prevention and control activities can be coordinated at regional and national levels.

CDC requests a three-year approval for a Revision for the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS), [National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS, OMB Control No. 0920-0728, Expiration Date 01/31/2014]. This request has been developed in coordination with four other CDC applications to OMB for nationally notifiable diseases case notification: Control Nos. 0920-0128, (Congenital Syphilis Surveillance), 0920-0819 (Nationally Notifiable Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Morbidity Surveillance) 0920-0009 (National Disease Surveillance Program—I. Case Reports) and 0920-0004 (National Disease Surveillance Program—II. Disease Summaries). This consolidation of information collection 0920-0128 and some parts of information collections 0920-0819, 0920-0009 and 0920-0004, is an important step in implementing CDC's longer term strategy of developing a more coordinated and integrated infectious diseases surveillance system that reduces overlap and duplication; increases interoperability, integration and efficiency; and thereby reduces burden to state, territorial and local health departments that report infectious disease data to CDC. Due to the coordination, this NNDSS application includes 11 conditions and many additional data elements for the case notifications that were not previously included in NNDSS OMB application Control No. 0920-0728. For many conditions submitted to CDC, participating public health departments also submit data elements which are specific to each condition. With the coordination with other CDC programs conducting surveillance on notifiable conditions, this application includes disease-specific tables for 68 diseases. The 2010 NNDSS OMB application included disease-specific data elements for only 14 of those conditions.

Because this information collection request includes case notifications that were not part of the 2010 NNDSS/NEDSS application, replaces one application and replaces parts of three other OMB applications, burden estimates have been adjusted to incorporate burden estimates from the other four applications. The estimates are adjusted for the increased number of conditions reported to NNDSS, the expansion of core data elements, and the inclusion of more disease-specific tables. These changes have increased the burden estimates in this application in comparison with the burden estimates in the 2010 NNDSS/NEDSS OMB application (OMB Control No. 0920-0728). As CDC works with state, territorial and local health departments to develop and implement new information technologies to submit these data through NNDSS, burden will also increase as the public health departments commit resources to implementing the new technologies. However, over the next 3 years, as the new automated electronic systems are implemented, burden will be decreased. The estimated annual burden is 28,340 hours.

Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours

Respondents	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden per response (in hours)	Total burden (in hours)
States	50	52	10	26000
Territories	5	52	5	1300
Cities	2	52	10	1040
Total				28,340

Leroy A. Richardson,

Chief, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.