[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 129 (Friday, July 6, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37024-37025]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-13086]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-07-0636]


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 404-639-5760 or 
send comments to Maryam I. Daneshvar, Acting, CDC Assistant Reports 
Clearance Officer, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, GA 30333 or send 
an e-mail to [email protected].
    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. Written comments should be received 
within 60 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 (OMB No. 0920-0636)--3-year Extension--National 
Center for Health

[[Page 37025]]

Marketing (NCHM), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    A central component of the CDC's mission is to strengthen the 
nation's public health infrastructure by coordinating public health 
surveillance at CDC and providing domestic and international support 
through scientific communications and terrorism preparedness and 
emergency response. The Epidemic Information Exchange (Epi-X) provides 
CDC and its state and local partners and collaborators with a secure 
public health communications network intended for routine and emergent 
information exchange in a secure environment.
    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.
    The purpose of the information gathered during this notification 
proficiency testing exercise is 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 
cell phone, home telephone, and pager calls to rapidly inform key 
health authorities from multidisciplinary backgrounds and multiple 
jurisdictions of evolving and critical public health information, and 
assist with the decision-making process. Presently, the necessity of 
this evaluation process is timely because of ongoing terrorism threats 
and acts perpetrated worldwide.
    The survey information will be gathered through an online 
questionnaire format, and help evaluate user comprehension and facility 
solely with the targeted notification and rapid alerting 
functionalities of Epi-X. The questionnaire will consist of both 
closed- and open-ended items, and will be administered through 
Zoomerang, an online questionnaire program, or as a last resort, by 
telephone. Approximately 1,000 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, 
whose participation will be strictly voluntary.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                  Number of     Average  burden
                 Respondents                     Number of      responses per    per  response     Total burden
                                                respondents       respondent       (in hours)       (in hours)
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Public Health Professionals.................           1,000                1            10/60              167
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    Dated: June 29, 2007.
Maryam I. Daneshvar,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. E7-13086 Filed 7-5-07; 8:45 am]
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