2018-20248. Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

AGENCY:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION:

Notice with comment period.

SUMMARY:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a proposed and/or continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project titled Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), an annual state-based health survey that produces state-level information on health risk behaviors, health conditions, and preventive health practices that are associated with chronic diseases, infectious diseases, and injury.

DATES:

CDC must receive written comments on or before November 19, 2018.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2018-0087 by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Jeffrey Zirger, Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments to Regulations.gov.

Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking portal (regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request more information on the proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, contact Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: [phone]; Email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information collection before submitting the collection to the OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a proposed data collection as described below.

The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:

1. Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;

2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;

3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses.

5. Assess information collection costs.

Proposed Project

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)—Revision—National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

CDC is requesting OMB approval to revise information collection for the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) for the period of 2019-2022. The BRFSS is a nationwide system of cross-sectional telephone health surveys administered by health departments in states, territories, and the District of Columbia (collectively referred to here as states) in collaboration with CDC. The BRFSS produces state-level information primarily on health risk behaviors, health conditions, and preventive health practices that are associated with chronic diseases, infectious diseases, and injury. Designed to meet the data needs of individual states and territories, the CDC sponsors the BRFSS information collection project under a cooperative agreement with states and territories. Under this partnership, BRFSS state coordinators determine questionnaire content with technical and methodological assistance provided by CDC. For most states and territories, the BRFSS provides the only sources of data amenable to state and local level health and health risk indicator uses. Over time, it has also developed into an important data collection system that federal agencies rely on for state and local health information and to track national health objectives such as Healthy People.

CDC bases the BRFSS questionnaire on modular design principles to accommodate a variety of state-specific needs within a common framework. All participating states are required to administer a standardized core questionnaire, which provides a set of shared health indicators for all BRFSS partners. The BRFSS core questionnaire consists of fixed core, rotating core, and emerging core questions. Fixed core questions are asked every year. Rotating core questions cycle on and off the core questionnaire during even or odd years, depending on the question. Emerging core questions are included in the core questionnaire as needed to collect data on urgent or emerging health topics such as influenza. In addition, the BRFSS includes a series of optional modules on a variety of topics. In off years, when the rotating questions are not included in the core questionnaire, they are offered to states as optional modules. This framework allows each state to produce a customized BRFSS survey by appending selected optional modules to the core survey. States may select which, if any, optional modules to administer. As needed, CDC provides technical and methodological assistance to state BRFSS coordinators in the construction of their state-specific surveys. Each state administers its BRFSS questionnaire throughout the calendar year.

CDC periodically updates the BRFSS core survey and optional modules. The purpose of this Revision request is to add the following topics to the questionnaires: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome; hepatitis treatment; adverse childhood experiences; food stamps; and opioid use and misuse. In addition, this request seeks approval for reinstating topics which have been included in BRFSS in the past, dependent upon state interest and funding.

Participation is voluntary and there is no cost to participate. The average time burden per response will be 22 minutes. The total annual time burden across all respondents will be approximately 241,519 hours.

Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

Type of respondents	Form name	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden per response (in hours)
U.S. General Population	Landline Screener	375,000	1	1/60
	Cell Phone Screener	292,682	1	1/60
	Field Test Screener	900	1	1/60
Annual Survey Respondents (Adults >18 Years)	BRFSS Core Survey BRFSS Optional Modules	480,000 440,000	1 1	15/60 15/60
Field Test Respondents (Adults >18 Years)	Field Test Survey	500	1	45/60

Jeffrey M. Zirger,

Acting 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.