[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 37 (Thursday, February 25, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8646-8647]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-3761]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of 
information under the emergency

[[Page 8647]]

provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: Survey of Health Insurance and Program Participation 
(SHIPP).
    OMB Control Number: None.
    Form Number(s): The collection will be conducted using an automated 
instrument. There are no form numbers.
    Type of Request: Emergency Review of a new collection.
    Burden Hours: 1,000.
    Number of Respondents: 5,000.
    Average Hours per Response: 12 minutes.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. health care system is decentralized, thus 
there is no comprehensive database of the insured and no way to derive 
the number of uninsured from such a database. Surveys offer the only 
data source for estimating the uninsured. Measuring the uninsured in 
surveys, however, has proved to be a persistent challenge to the 
research community. The Census Bureau has been conducting research for 
more than a decade on measurement error in its surveys that measure 
health insurance, including the Current Population Survey Annual Social 
and Economic Supplement (commonly called the CPS ASEC), the American 
Community Survey (ACS) and the Survey of Income and Program 
Participation (SIPP). This research fed into the development of an 
experimental set of questions on health insurance (the Redesign), which 
has the potential to reduce measurement error. The next step in this 
line of research is a split-ballot experiment planned for the spring of 
2010 called the ``Survey of Health Insurance and Program 
Participation'' (SHIPP), which will include three panels of questions 
on health insurance: One modeled on the CPS ASEC series, one modeled on 
the American Community Survey (ACS) series, and the Redesign (see 
attached questionnaire and additional lists of state-specific program 
names).
    The SHIPP is conducted by telephone from the Census Bureau's 
telephone data collection center in Hagerstown, Md., and the field 
period is scheduled for March 22 through May 10, 2010. Two types of 
sample will be used: Random digit dial (RDD), and ``seeded'' sample of 
known Medicare enrollees from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 
Services.
    With regard to the circumstances necessitating an emergency 
clearance, on January 21, 2010, we submitted a request to conduct this 
survey under the Statistical Research Division's (SRD) generic 
clearance, which covers basic methodological research on questionnaire 
design and evaluation (split-ballot field tests, respondent 
debriefings, interviewer evaluations, etc.). Turnaround time for 
generic clearance is generally 10 days, and since 1999 SRD has 
conducted several similar (and related) studies under this generic 
clearance. Results from some of these studies are documented in the 
list of references in Question 8 below. In early February 2010, 
however, we were informed by OMB that this particular study did not 
fall under the generic clearance but required a separate package 
because of the increased visibility of health insurance measurement 
issues which arose in the context of recent high-profile efforts to 
evaluate various health system reform proposals.
    Given the timing of this determination that a separate OMB 
clearance package is needed, the choice is either to delay the survey 
by about six months or to pursue an emergency clearance. Delaying the 
survey has several negative consequences. In the short run, significant 
resources have been dedicated to running this survey in the spring of 
2010, and shifting the timing would not only squander those resources, 
but it is unlikely that sufficient staff would be available later. 
Related to this, beginning in May 2010 and running through September 
2010, several decennial followup operations will be conducted out of 
the Hagerstown telephone facility, and the SHIPP study would directly 
conflict with resources dedicated to those efforts. But perhaps the 
most compelling reason the survey cannot be delayed is due to the 
nature of the research questions. The Redesign is aimed at reducing 
measurement associated with the calendar year reference period, in 
tandem with the approximate three-month lag time between the end of the 
reference period and the interview date. Thus, as noted in Question 6 
below, to evaluate the effectiveness of the questions on retrospective 
coverage in the Redesign, it is essential that the field study be 
carried out in parallel with the timing of producing CPS ASEC data 
collection as closely as possible. A 6-month delay would seriously 
threaten the applicability of the results.
    The primary purpose of the field study is to evaluate the Redesign 
and assess any improvements over the CPS ASEC design. A secondary 
purpose is to compare estimates from the CPS and ACS test panels. 
Evaluations will be carried out by HHES and SRD staff and will involve 
a range of different methods, including an analysis of: (1) The point 
estimates of the uninsured, and also those insured by various types of 
coverage (such as employer-sponsored plans, Medicare and Medicaid); (2) 
the accuracy of the survey data (as compared to administrative records 
on health coverage); (3) interview administration time; (4) interviewer 
feedback; (5) analysis of interviewer-respondent interaction (through 
behavior coding); and (6) respondent debriefings (scripted in 
questionnaire). The evaluation will be used to help interpret estimates 
from CPS ASEC and ACS production data, and to determine whether 
particular survey design features of the CPS ASEC would benefit by 
modifications based on the Redesign. One particular survey design 
feature--the calendar year reference period--has been demonstrated to 
result in under-reported coverage. The Redesign, therefore, collects 
data on current coverage (a much less problematic reference period) and 
then uses this information as an anchor in order to ask about 
retrospective coverage during the past calendar year. If results show 
that this alternative method does in fact reduce under-reporting of 
past coverage, the CPS ASEC could adapt this type of question sequence 
in order to (1) produce statistics on current coverage and (2) produce 
past calendar year statistics that are more accurate.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Frequency: One-time.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. Section 182; Title 42 U.S.C. 
Section 285e-1.
    OMB Desk Officer: Brian Harris-Kojetin, (202) 395-7314.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, (202) 482-0266, Department of Commerce, Room 6625, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 
[email protected]).
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent in by March 12, 2010 to Brian Harris-Kojetin, 
OMB Desk Officer either by fax (202-395-7245) or e-mail 
([email protected]).

    Dated: February 19, 2010.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-3761 Filed 2-24-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P