[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 25 (Monday, February 8, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6207-6208]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-2691]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Lost People Finder System

SUMMARY: 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 National Library of Medicine 
(NLM), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will publish periodic 
summaries of proposed projects to be submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval.

Proposed Collection

    Title: Lost People Finder System; Type of Information Collection 
Request: Extension of currently approved collection [OMB No. 0925-0612, 
expiration date 07/31/2010], Form Number: NA; Need and Use of 
Information Collection: The National Library of Medicine (NLM) proposes 
the continuation of a voluntary collection of data to assist in the 
reunification of family members and loved ones who are separated during 
a disaster. Reunification is important to both the emotional well-being 
of people injured during a disaster and to their medical care. Family 
members often provide important health information to care providers 
who are treating the injured (e.g., providing medical history or 
information about allergies) and they may provide longer-term care for 
those released from emergency care. NLM proposes this data collection 
as part of its mission to develop and coordinate communication 
technologies to improve the delivery of health services. The data 
collection is authorized pursuant to sections 301, 307, 465 and 478A of 
the Public Health Service Act [42 U.S.C. 241, 242l, 286 and 286d]. NLM 
is a member of the Bethesda Hospitals' Emergency Preparedness 
Partnership (BHEPP), which was established in 2004 to improve community 
disaster preparedness and response among hospitals in Bethesda, 
Maryland that would likely be called upon to absorb mass casualties in 
a major disaster in the National Capital Region. BHEPP hospitals 
include the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC), the National 
Institutes of Health Clinical Center (NIH CC), and Suburban Hospital/
Johns Hopkins Medicine. NLM, with its expertise in communications, 
information management, and medical informatics joined BHEPP to 
coordinate the R&D program, one element of which is development of a 
lost person finder to assist in family reunification after a disaster. 
NLM's Lost People Finder System would collect information, on a 
voluntary basis, about people who are missing and who are found 
(recovered) during a disaster. Information on recovered individuals 
would be gathered voluntarily from medical and relief personnel who 
either use a specialized application developed by NLM for the iPhone or 
submit information to NLM by e-mail via computer or cell phone. The 
iPhone application enables submission of photographs and descriptive 
information about recovered victims in a structured format, e.g., name 
(if available), age category, gender, general status (healthy, 
injured), location. Information about missing persons would be 
submitted by members of the public who are seeking family members, 
friends, and other loved ones. An interactive Web-based system offers 
the public a tool for searching for people who have been found (e.g., 
recovered by medical staff and other relief workers) and for 
voluntarily posting information about people who are still missing. In 
addition, the system would collect information on a regular basis from 
other publicly available systems for that are used for reunification 
during a disaster for information (e.g., the Google Person Finder 
system that was deployed during the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti). In 
addition, information submitted directly to NLM's Lost People Finder 
System would be transferred to other systems that are endorsed by U.S. 
government agencies to ensure that users of such systems can search the 
complete set of available information for their family members and 
loved ones and to ensure that use of the NLM system in no way 
interrupts or distracts from the

[[Page 6208]]

operation or use of other person finder systems. NLM would also use the 
data to evaluate the functioning and utility of the lost person finder 
and guide future enhancements to the system. Frequency of Response: The 
NLM Lost People Finder would be activated only during disasters or 
emergencies in which U.S. government agencies are called to contribute 
to relief efforts. It would operate until cessation of relief efforts. 
During this period of time, information on found persons would be 
submitted by first-responders, medical, and other relief personnel on 
an ad-hoc basis, possibly several times per day. Information about 
missing persons would be submitted voluntarily by members of the public 
(i.e., those who are seeking family members friends, and other loved 
ones) on hoc basis, once or twice during the disaster. Affected Public: 
Individuals or households. Type of Respondents: Emergency Care First-
Responders, Physicians, and Other Health Care Providers who have found 
(recovered) people, and family members seeking a missing person. 
Estimate of burden: The annual reporting burden is as follows: The 
estimated burden consists of the burden to emergency responders (care 
providers, relief workers) of voluntarily entering data into the system 
about found people and of family members voluntarily entering data to 
list a missing person and/or search for possible matches. The burden 
may vary significantly from one disaster to another, depending upon the 
number of people affected. Using the 2010 earthquake in Haiti as a 
model, we estimate that some 500 emergency responders might use the 
system during the course of the relief effort and that each might 
submit information on 100 people. Submission of information, especially 
through the iPhone application, is very fast and is estimated to 
average not more than 5 minutes per entry. The number of family members 
entering information about a missing person could be much higher. Based 
on use of the Google Person Finder system during the Haiti earthquake 
(which contained information on 50,000 people after two weeks of 
operation), we estimate that some 50,000 family members might use the 
system twice during a disaster. Data entry would average no more than 5 
minutes. Based on these estimates, the total hour burden is calculated 
to be 12,000 hours. All use of the system is voluntary. Improved 
estimates of the burden, in particular the number of respondents and 
frequency of response, could be provided after the initial use of the 
system in Haiti.

 
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                                                                     Estimated                       Estimated
                                                     Estimated       number of    Average burden   total annual
              Types of respondents                   number of     responses per     hours per     burden hours
                                                    respondents     respondent       response        requested
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Emergency Care First-Responders, Physicians,                 500             100            0.08           4,000
 Other Health Care Providers....................
Family members seeking a missing person.........          50,000               2            0.08           8,000
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................          50,500  ..............  ..............          12,000
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    The annualized cost to respondents for each year of the clearance 
is estimated to be $293,120.
    There are no Capital Costs, Operating Costs, and/or Maintenance 
Costs to report.
    Request for Comments: Written comments and/or suggestions from the 
public and affected agencies should address one or more of the 
following points: (1) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the function of 
the agency, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (2) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) Enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(4) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who 
are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, electronic, 
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms 
of information technology.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the data collection plans and 
instruments, contact: David Sharlip, National Library of Medicine, 
Building 38A, Room B2N12, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894, or 
call non-toll free number 301-402-9680 or e-mail your request to 
[email protected].
    Comments Due Date: Comments regarding this information collection 
are best assured of having their full effect if received within 60 days 
of the date of this publication.

    Dated: February 2, 2009.
Betsy L. Humphreys,
Deputy Director, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of 
Health.
[FR Doc. 2010-2691 Filed 2-5-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P