2015-23568. 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 efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed revision of the information collection entitled “National Disease Surveillance Program—I—Case Reports.”

DATES:

Written comments must be received on or before November 20, 2015.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2015-0083 by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulation.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Leroy A. Richardson, 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. All relevant comments received will be posted without change to Regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to Regulations.gov.

Please note: All public comment should be submitted 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 the 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 OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a proposed data collection as described below.

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; (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; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information.

Proposed Project

National Disease Surveillance Program I—Case Reports—(OMB Control Number 0920-0009, Expiration, 4/30/2016)—Revision—National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Disease (NCEZID), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

Surveillance of the incidence and distribution of disease has been an important function of the US Public Health Service (PHS) since an 1878 Act of Congress authorized the PHS to collect morbidity reports. After the Malaria Control in War Areas Program had fulfilled its original 1942 objective of reducing malaria transmission, its basic tenets were carried forward and broadened by the formation of the Communicable Disease Center (CDC) in 1946. CDC was conceived of as a well-equipped, broadly staffed agency used to translate facts about analysis of morbidity and mortality statistics on communicable diseases and through field investigations.

The surveillance emphasis has shifted as certain diseases have declined in incidence, national emergencies have prompted involvement in new areas, and other diseases have taken on new aspects. Surveillance for the following diseases was approved three years ago: Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), Cyclosporiasis cayetanensis, Q Fever, Dengue, Reye Syndrome, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), Tick-borne Rickettsial Disease, Kawasaki syndrome, Trichinosis, Legionellosis, Tularemia, Lyme Disease (LD), Typhoid Fever, Malaria, Viral Hepatitis, and Plague. Due to change requests and surveillance systems moving to 0920-0728 (National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS)) during the last three years, the following diseases/conditions are now included in this program: Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), Reye Syndrome, Kawasaki syndrome, and Acute Flaccid Myelitis. CDC needs to continue this surveillance package for another 3 years to maintain continuity in these surveillance systems. The data throughout the years are used to monitor the occurrence of non-notifiable conditions and to plan and conduct prevention and control programs at the state, territorial, local and national levels.

CDC currently collects data for certain diseases in summary form under OMB No. 0920-0004, (National Disease Surveillance Program II—Disease Summaries). These disease summaries are for important, yet different types of infections from those covered in this disease case reports request. Maintaining separate OMB numbers for these two types of data collections assists CDC in managing the two surveillance activities.

CDC works with state health departments to propose, coordinate, and evaluate nationwide surveillance systems. State epidemiologists are responsible for the collection, interpretation, and transmission of medical and epidemiological information to CDC.

The original purpose for reporting communicable diseases was to determine the prevalence of diseases dangerous to public health. However, collecting data also provided the basis for planning and evaluating effective programs for prevention and control of infectious diseases. Current information on disease incidence is needed to study present and emerging disease problems. CDC coordination of nationwide reporting maintains uniformity so that comparisons can be made from state to state and year to year.

In addition to development of prevention and control programs, surveillance data serves as statistical material for those engaged in research or medical practice, aid to health education officials and students, and data for manufacturers of pharmaceutical products. Annual surveillance data are published in the MMWR Surveillance Summary. The total burden requested is 190 hours, a decrease in 11,257 hours since the last submission. This is due to the other diseases moving to the Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (0920-0728). There is no cost to respondents other than their time.

Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

Type of respondents	Form name	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Avg. burden per response (in hrs.)	Total burden (in hrs.)
Epidemiologist	CJD	20	2	20/60	13
Epidemiologist	Kawasaki Syndrome	55	8	15/60	110
Epidemiologist	Reye Syndrome	50	1	20/60	17
Epidemiologist	Acute Flaccid Myelitis	100	1	30/60	50
Total					190

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.