03-24999. Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a list of information collection requests under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call the CDC Reports Clearance Officer at [phone]. Send written comments to NCHS/CDC, Desk Officer, Human Resources and Housing Branch, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to [phone]. Written comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.

Proposed Project: NCHS 2003-2004 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) (OMB Control No. 0920-0234)—Extension—National Center for Health Statics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) was conducted annually from 1973 to 1981, again in 1985, and resumed as an annual survey in 1989. It is directed by the Division of Health Care Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC. The purpose of NAMCS is to meet the needs and demands for statistical information about the provision of ambulatory medical care services in the United States. Ambulatory services are rendered in a wide variety of settings, including physicians' offices and hospital outpatient and emergency departments. The NAMCS target population consists of all office visits within the United States made by ambulatory patients to non-Federal office-based physicians (excluding those in the specialties of anesthesiology, radiology, and pathology) who are engaged in direct patient care. Since more than 80 percent of all direct ambulatory medical care visits occur in physicians' offices, the NAMCS provides data on the majority of ambulatory medical care services. To complement these data, in 1992 NCHS initiated the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS, OMB No. 0920-0278) to provide data concerning patient visits to hospital outpatient and emergency departments. The NAMCS, together with the NHAMCS constitute the ambulatory component of the National Health Care Survey (NHCS), and will provide coverage of more than 90 percent of ambulatory medical care.

The NAMCS provides a range of baseline data on the characteristics of the users and providers of ambulatory medical care. Data collected include the patients' demographic characteristics and reason(s) for visit, and the physicians' diagnosis(es) and diagnostic services, medications and disposition. These data, together with trend data, may be used to monitor the effects of change in the health care system, provide new insights into ambulatory medical care, and stimulate further research on the use, organization, and delivery of ambulatory care.

Users of NAMCS data include, but are not limited to, congressional and other federal government agencies such as NIH and FDA, state and local governments, medical schools, schools of public health, colleges and universities, private businesses, nonprofit foundations and corporations, professional associations, as well as individual practitioners, researchers, administrators and health planners. Uses vary from the inclusion of a few selected statistics in a large research effort, to an in-depth analysis of the entire NAMCS data set covering several years. The annual burden for this data collection is 6,175 burden hours.

Form	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Hours per response
Induction—eligible	2,250	1	35/60
Induction—ineligible	750	1	5/60
Patient Record	2,250	30	4/60
Nonresponse Studies	300	1	60/60

Dated: September 26, 2003.

Nancy E. Cheal,

Acting Associate Director for Policy, Planning and Evaluation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.