[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 241 (Thursday, December 17, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66973-66974]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-30007]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30-Day-10-09AR]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction 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 Paperwork Reduction 
Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call 
the CDC Reports Clearance Officer at (404) 639-5960 or send an e-mail 
to [email protected]. Send written comments to CDC Desk Officer, Office of 
Management and Budget, Washington, DC or by fax to (202) 395-5806. 
Written comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    STD Surveillance Network (SSuN)--Existing collection without an OMB 
number--National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB 
Prevention (NCHHSTP), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The purpose of the proposed study is to improve the capacity of 
national, state, and local STD programs to detect, monitor, and respond 
rapidly to trends in STDs through enhanced collection, reporting, 
analysis, visualization and interpretation of disease information. A 
pilot project that took place from 2006 to 2008 informed the design of 
the currently submitted SSuN project. The pilot project was helpful in 
establishing the sample size estimations that will be used in the 
project and the standardization of the way in which questions will be 
asked of patients. OMB clearance was not sought for this pilot project 
because reporting sites (public health departments) instead of people 
were mistakenly counted as respondents. There were only 6 sites that 
were reporting data to CDC for the clinic portion of the project; 
however, more than 10 subjects were involved with the population 
portion of the pilot.
    The SSuN Project will be an active STD sentinel surveillance 
network comprised of 12 surveillance sites around the United States. 
SSuN will use two surveillance strategies to collect information. The 
first will be a STD clinic-based surveillance which will extract data 
from existing electronic medical records for all patient visits at 
participating STD clinics over the 3 years. The second will be a 
population-based surveillance in which a sample of individuals reported 
with gonorrhea to the 12 SSuN state or city health departments are 
interviewed using locally designed interview templates.
    For the clinic-based surveillance, the specified data elements will 
be abstracted on a quarterly basis from existing electronic medical 
records for all patient visits to participating clinics. Data in the 
electronic medical record may be collected at time of registration, 
during the clinic encounter, or through laboratory testing. For the 
population-based STD surveillance, the results of interviews will be 
entered into a developed Microsoft Access database that will be adapted 
locally for each clinic. High quality, informative, and timely 
surveillance data are necessary to guide STD programs so interventions 
are designed and implemented appropriately. Furthermore, surveillance 
data are necessary for understanding the impact of STD interventions 
based on the epidemiology of each STD.
    This information will be collected to establish an integrated 
network of sentinel STD clinics and health departments to inform and 
guide national programs and policies for STD control in the US. It will 
improve the capacity of national, state, and local STD programs to 
detect, monitor, and respond to established and emerging trends in 
STDs, HIV, and viral hepatitis. SSuN will help identify and evaluate 
the effectiveness of public health interventions to reduce STD 
morbidity.
    The SSuN surveillance platform will allow CDC to establish and 
maintain common standards for data collection, transmission, and 
analysis, and will allow CDC to build and maintain STD surveillance 
expertise in 12 surveillance areas. Such common systems, established 
mechanisms of communication, and in-place expertise are all critical 
components for timely, flexible, and high quality surveillance.
    There is no cost to respondents other than their time. The total 
estimated annual burden hours are 432.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                     Number of    Average burden
                       Types of respondent                           Number of     responses per   per response
                                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)
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SSuN site.......................................................              12               4               2
Gonorrhea Case..................................................            2880               1            7/60
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[[Page 66974]]

    Dated: December 11, 2009.
Marilyn S. Radke,
Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. E9-30007 Filed 12-16-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P