[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 23 (Thursday, February 5, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6163-6164]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-2444]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-09-0278)


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 at 404-639-5960 or send comments to CDC/ATSDR 
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

    National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) (OMB No. 
0920-0278)--Revision--National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    Section 306 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 U.S.C. 
242k), as amended, authorizes that the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services (DHHS), acting through NCHS, shall collect statistics on 
``utilization of health care'' in the United States. The National 
Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) has been conducted 
annually since 1992. NCHS is seeking OMB approval to extend this survey 
for an additional three years.
    The purpose of NHAMCS 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 target universe of the NHAMCS 
is in-person visits made to outpatient departments (OPDs) and emergency 
departments (EDs) of non-Federal, short-stay hospitals (hospitals with 
an average length of stay of less than 30 days) or those whose 
specialty is general (medical or surgical) or children's general.
    NHAMCS was initiated to complement the National Ambulatory Medical 
Care Survey (NAMCS, OMB No. 0920-0234), which provides similar data 
concerning patient visits to physicians' offices. NAMCS and NHAMCS are 
the principal sources of data on ambulatory care provided in the United 
States.
    NHAMCS provides a range of baseline data on the characteristics of 
the users and providers of hospital ambulatory medical care. Data 
collected include patients' demographic characteristics, reason(s) for 
visit, providers' diagnoses, 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, for the 
planning of health services, improving medical education, determining 
health care work force needs, and assessing the health status of the 
population. In addition, information on cervical cancer screening 
practices from hospital OPD clinics will continue to be collected 
through the Cervical Cancer Screening Supplement (CCSS), which was 
added in 2006. This supplement will allow the CDC/National Coordinating 
Center for Health Promotion (NCCHP) to evaluate cervical cancer 
screening methods and the use of human papillomavirus DNA tests.
    In 2009, hospital-based ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) were 
added to the NHAMCS sample in order to capture patient visits to 
hospital-based ASCs. In an effort to expand understanding of patient 
visits to all ASCs, NCHS proposes to add free-standing ASCs to the 
NHAMCS data gathering procedures in 2010. This will allow a 
comprehensive understanding of patient care in ASCs by gathering data 
on all outpatient surgeries not captured in other NCHS surveys. NHAMCS 
ASC data that will be collected from free-standing ASCs include patient 
characteristics, diagnoses, surgical and nonsurgical procedures, 
provider and type of anesthesia, time in and out of surgery and 
postoperative care, and discharge disposition. The data collected will 
also be compared to ASC data from the 2006 National Survey of 
Ambulatory Surgery (OMB No. 0920-0334).
    Users of NHAMCS data include, but are not limited to, congressional 
offices, Federal agencies, state and local governments, schools of 
public health, colleges and universities, private industry, nonprofit 
foundations, professional associations, clinicians, researchers, 
administrators, and health planners.
    There are no costs to the respondents other than their time.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Table
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                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
               Type of respondent                   respondents    responses per   response  (in       hours
                                                                    respondent         hrs)
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Hospitals:
    Induction Interview.........................             470               1           55/60             431
    ED induction................................             400               1               1             400
    OPD induction...............................             250               4               1           1,000
    ASC induction...............................             200               1               1             200
    ED Patient Record Form......................             400             100            7/60           4,667
    OPD Patient Record Form.....................             250             200            6/60           5,000
    ASC Patient Record Form.....................             200             100            6/60           2,000

[[Page 6164]]

 
    CCSS........................................             250               1           15/60              63
Free-standing ASCs:
    Induction Interview.........................             200               1           55/60             183
    Patient Record Form.........................             200             100            6/60           2,000
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............          15,944
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    Dated: January 29, 2009.
Maryam I. Daneshvar,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Science Officer, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. E9-2444 Filed 2-4-09; 8:45 am]
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