[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 92 (Thursday, May 13, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25883-25884]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-12092]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control And Prevention
[INFO-99-17]


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, the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) is providing opportunity for public comment on 
proposed data collection projects. 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 Projects

    1. National Program of Cancer Registries--Cancer Surveillance 
System--NEW-National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health 
Promotion (NCCDPHP). The American Cancer Society estimates that 8.2 
million Americans have a history of cancer and that in 1999, about 1.2 
million new cases will be diagnosed. At the national level, cancer 
incidence data are available for only 14% of the population of the 
United States. While this is appropriate for analyses of major cancers 
in large population subgroups, it is not always adequate for minority 
populations and rare cancer analyses. Further, to plan and evaluate 
state and national cancer control and prevention efforts, national data 
are needed. Therefore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Division of 
Cancer Prevention and Control, proposes to aggregate existing cancer 
incidence data from states funded by the National Program of Cancer 
Registries into a national surveillance system.
    These data are already collected and aggregated at the state level. 
Thus the additional burden on the states would be small. Program 
implementation would require funded states to report data to the CDC on 
an annual basis twelve months after the close of a diagnosis year and 
again at twenty-four months to obtain more complete incidence data and 
vital status from mortality data. The estimated total cost to 
respondents is $885,000 per year.

[[Page 25884]]



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                                                        Number of     Average burden/
            Respondents                Number pf        responses/      response (in     Total burden (in hrs.)
                                      respondents       respondent         hrs.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State, territorial, and District                63                1                2                        126
 of Columbia cancer registries....
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    2. Sentinel Network for Public Health Practice--NEW--The Division 
of Public Health Systems, Public Health Practice Program Office (PHPPO) 
proposes to establish a sentinel network of 160 local health 
departments to provide ongoing public health system infrastructure and 
capacity data. As the nation's prevention agency, the CDC is working to 
support the US public health mission of rapidly detecting disease and 
health risks, rapidly communicating, and strengthening the capacity to 
respond. Towards that goal, CDC proposes to assess and strengthen the 
nation's public health infrastructure by developing a network of local 
health departments that will provide ongoing information to public 
health leaders, policy makers, program managers and others to identify 
needs, target resources, and assist in overall preparedness. Data 
gathered by survey from the sentinel network will also lead to 
improvement of the public health communications systems and reinforced 
training and credentialing for core workforce skills, and will help in 
developing standards for improved organizational performance.
    The purpose of this Sentinel System and its related surveys are to: 
(1) Assess data and information systems, public health workforce, 
effective public health organization, relationships and resources that 
enable the performance of the ten essential services of public health 
for every community, and use these data in developing strategies to 
strengthen the infrastructure of public health; (2) rapidly detect 
changes in the health care environment as they affect the nation's 
health; (3) evaluate the usefulness, readability, and impact of CDC 
publications and documentation such as the Guide to Community 
Preventive Services, and (4) provide the CDC and collaborators with 
data to assist in measuring performance of local health departments. 
Results from this research will be used to help the CDC in several 
ways. These systematic, longitudinal data will allow CDC and the public 
health community to improve infrastructure quality and capacity. 
Examples of crosscutting infrastructure issues that may be identified 
by these data include the extent of under-funding for public health, 
the need for effective local leadership and for integrated electronic 
information systems, and the emerging role of measurable standards for 
local health departments. CDC publications evaluation data will allow 
the CDC to assess how useful and linked to local need are its 
resources, and to plan revisions and future products. The health 
performance information will help direct the development of measurable 
standards. The cost to the respondent is $0.00.

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                                                                     Number of     Avg. burden/
                      Form                           Number of      responses/     response  (in   Total burden
                                                   respondents*     respondent         hrs.)         (in hrs.)
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Assessing and Strengthening public health                     80               2               8           1,280
 infrastructure.................................
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                                                      Year 2
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Evaluating CDC Publications.....................              80               2               4             640
Assessing and strengthening public health                    160               2               8           2,560
 infrastructure.................................
Evaluating CDC Publications.....................             160               2               4           1,280
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                                                     Year 3
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Assessing and strengthening public health                    160               2               8           2,560
 infrastructure.................................
Evaluating CDC Publications.....................             160               2               4           1,280
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           9,600
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*Respondents are local health departments.

    Dated: May 6, 1999.
Nancy Cheal,
Acting Associate Director for Policy, Planning and Evaluation, Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
[FR Doc. 99-12092 Filed 5-12-99; 8:45 am]
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