[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 93 (Friday, May 15, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22935-22936]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-11379]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-09-0234)


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Act Review

    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 requirement of 
Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. To 
request a copy of these requirements, 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]. Written comments should be received within 30 
days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) (OMB No. 0920-
0234)--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. NAMCS was 
conducted annually from 1973 to 1981, again in 1985, and resumed as an 
annual survey in 1989. 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. NCHS is seeking OMB 
approval to extend this survey for three years.
    Ambulatory services are rendered in a wide variety of settings, 
including physician offices and hospital outpatient and emergency 
departments. The NAMCS target universe consists of all office visits 
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.
    In 2006, physicians and mid-level providers (i.e., nurse 
practitioners, physician assistants, and nurse midwives) practicing in 
community health centers (CHCs) were added to the NAMCS sample, and 
these data will continue to be collected. To complement NAMCS data, 
NCHS initiated the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey 
(NHAMCS, OMB No. 0920-0278) in 1992 to provide data concerning patient 
visits to hospital outpatient and emergency departments. NAMCS and 
NHAMCS are the principal sources of data on ambulatory care provided in 
the United States.
    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, reason(s) for visit, 
provider diagnoses, diagnostic services, medications, and visit 
disposition. In addition, information on cervical cancer screening 
practices in physician offices will continue to be collected through 
the Cervical Cancer Screening Supplement (CCSS), which was added in 
2006. It will allow CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease 
Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) to evaluate cervical cancer 
screening methods and the use of Human Papillomavirus DNA tests.
    A supplemental mail survey on the adoption and use of electronic 
medical records (EMRs) in physician offices was added to NAMCS in 2008, 
and will continue. These data were requested by the Office of the 
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), 
Department of Health and Human Services, to measure progress toward 
goals for EMR adoption. The mail survey will collect information on 
characteristics of physician practices and the capabilities of EMRs 
used in those practices.
    In 2009, in addition to conducting the on-going survey, NAMCS will 
include an additional sample of 70 physicians to pretest additional 
questionnaire items on laboratory values. These new items were 
requested by the Division of Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention within 
NCCDPHP to better understand the extent to which ambulatory health care 
providers identify and control abnormal values before and after 
cardiovascular disease. Users of NAMCS 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 is no cost to respondents other than their time to 
participate. The total

[[Page 22936]]

estimated annualized burden hours are 5,932.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Table
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                     Number of
         Type of form               Type of         Form name        Number of     responses per     Hours per
                                  respondent                        respondents     respondent       response
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Core NAMCS Forms.............  Office-based      Physician                 3,657               1           28/60
                                physicians/CHC    Induction
                                providers.        Interview
                                                  (NAMCS-1).
                               Community Health  Community                   104               1           20/60
                                Center            Health Center
                                Directors.        Induction
                                                  Interview
                                                  (NAMCS-201).
                               Office-based      Patient Record              738              30            9/60
                                physicians/CHC    form (NAMCS-
                                providers/staff.  30).
                               Office/CHC staff  Pulling, re-                650              30            1/60
                                                  filing Patient
                                                  Record form
                                                  (NAMCS-30).
                               Office-based      Cervical Cancer             464               1           15/60
                                physicians/CHC    Screening
                                providers/staff.  Supplement
                                                  (NAMCS-CCS).
                               Office-based      EMR/EHR Mail              1,143               1           20/60
                                physicians.       Survey.
Lab Values Pre-test Forms....  Office-based      Physician                    23               1           28/60
                                physicians.       Induction
                                                  Interview
                                                  (NAMCS-1).
                               Office-based      Patient Record                8              30            9/60
                                physicians/       form (NAMCS-
                                staff.            30).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Maryam I. Daneshvar,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Science Officer, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. E9-11379 Filed 5-14-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P