[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 245 (Monday, December 22, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71109-71110]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-31434]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60 Day-04-17]


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 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 the CDC Reports 
Clearance Officer on (404) 498-1210. CDC is requesting an emergency 
clearance for this data collection with a two week public comment 
period. CDC is requesting OMB approval of this package 7 days after the 
end of the public comment period.
    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. Send comments to Seleda M. Perryman, 
CDC Assistant Reports Clearance Officer, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-E11, 
Atlanta, GA 30333. Written comments should be received within 14 days 
of this notice.
    Proposed Project: State-based Evaluation of the Alert Notification 
Component of CDC's Epidemic Information Exchange (Epi-X) Secure Public 
Health Communications Network--New--Epidemiology Program Office (EPO), 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Great attention has 
been focused on improving secure public health communications networks 
for the dissemination of critical disease outbreak and/or bioterrorism-
related events, which may have multi-jurisdictional involvement and 
cause disease and death within a short time-frame.
    CDC proposes an information gathering training exercise to evaluate 
the extent to which new registrants and currently authorized users of 
the Epidemic Information Exchange (Epi-X) are able to utilize alert 
notification functionality to minimize or prevent unnecessary injury or 
disease-related morbidity and mortality through the use of secure 
communications and rapid notification systems. In this case, 
notification alerts would be sent to targeted public health 
professionals through a ``barrage'' of office and cell phones, home 
telephones, and pager calls to rapidly inform key health authorities 
from multidisciplinary backgrounds and multiple jurisdictions of 
evolving and critical public health information, to assist in a 
decision making process.
    Presently, the necessity of this evaluation process is timely 
because of the threat of a national influenza epidemic in the coming 
months. Information will be gathered through an online questionnaire 
format. The information will help evaluate user comprehension and 
facility with the notification and rapid alerting functionalities of 
Epi-X. The

[[Page 71110]]

questionnaire will consist of both closed- and open-ended items, and 
will be administered through Zoomerang, an online questionnaire 
program. If these measures fail, respondents will be contacted by 
telephone.
    During the first 6 months, approximately 500 Epi-X users from every 
state of the union will be asked to volunteer input (in a 5-10 question 
format) about their experiences using the alert notification 
functionalities of the Epi-X communications system. There will be no 
cost to respondents, participation will be voluntary.

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                                                                      No. of      Average burden
                   Respondents                        No. of       responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondnet      (in hours)      (in hours)
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State and Local Health Professionals............             500               1           15/60             125
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............             125
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    Dated: December 16, 2003.
Alvin Hall,
Director, Management Analysis and Services Office, Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 03-31434 Filed 12-19-03; 8:45 am]
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