[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 219 (Monday, November 15, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69673-69674]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-28577]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30-Day 11-0636]


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

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Secure 
Communications Network (Epi-X) (OMB No. 0929-0636 exp. 12/31/2010 
formerly State-Based Evaluation of the Alert Notification Component of 
CDC's Secure Communication Network (Epi-X))--Revision--Office of Public 
Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR), Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The classification of this Information Collection (IC) is a 
revision of the State-Based Evaluation of the Alert Notification 
Component of CDC's

[[Page 69674]]

Secure Communication Network (Epi-X) OMB Control No. 0920-0636. During 
this revision, we are requesting the title be revised to read--Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Secure Communications Network 
(Epi-X).
    This IC is also being revised to improve the effectiveness of CDC 
communications with its public health partners during public health 
incident responses. Improvements include the addition of new data 
collection instruments related to six specific public health incidents. 
The addition of these instruments and the associated increase in burden 
hours is required to ensure that CDC and other Federal agencies will 
have secure, timely, and accurate information from our public health 
partners. This information is required by CDC during a public health 
incident for decision making and for effective and efficient execution 
of CDC's response activities. Public health partners include public 
health officials and agencies at the state and local level.
    From 2005-2009, CDC conducted incident specific, public health 
emergency response operations on average of four public health 
incidents a year with an average emergency response length of 48 days 
for each incident. The effectiveness and efficiency of CDC's response 
to any public health incident depends on information at the agency's 
disposal to characterize and monitor the incident, make timely 
decisions, and take appropriate actions to prevent or reduce the impact 
of the incident.
    Available information during many public health incident responses 
is often incomplete, is not easily validated by state and local health 
authorities, and is sometimes conflicting. This lack of reliable 
information often creates a high level of uncertainty with potential 
negative impacts on public health response operations.
    Secure communications with CDC's state and local public health 
partners is essential to de-conflict information, validate incident 
status, and establish and maintain accurate situation awareness. 
Reliable, secure communications are essential for the agency to, make 
informed decisions, and to respond in the most appropriate manner 
possible in order to minimize the impact of an incident on the public 
health of the United States.
    Epi-X is CDC's Web-based communication system for securely 
communicating during public health emergencies that have multi-
jurisdictional impact and implications. Epi-X was specifically designed 
to provide public health decision-makers at the state and local levels 
a secure, reliable tool for communicating information about sensitive, 
unusual, or urgent public health incidents to neighboring jurisdictions 
as well as to CDC. The system was also designed to generate a request 
for epidemiologic assistance (Epi-Aid) from CDC using a secure, 
paperless environment.
    Epi-X designers have developed functionalities that permit 
targeting of critical outbreak information to specific public health 
authorities who can act quickly to prevent the spread of diseases and 
other emergencies in multi-jurisdictional settings, such as those that 
could occur during an influenza pandemic, infection of food and water 
resources, and natural disasters.
    CDC has recognized a need to expand the use of Epi-X to collect 
specific response related information during public health emergencies. 
Authorized Officials from state and local health departments impacted 
by the public health incident will be surveyed only by Epi-X. 
Respondents will be informed of this data collection first through an 
Epi-X Facilitator, who will work closely with Epi-X program staff to 
ensure that Epi-X incident specific IC is understood. The survey 
instruments will contain specific questions relevant to the current and 
ongoing public health incident and response activities.
    The Web-based tool for data collection under Epi-X already is 
established for the current IC and has been in use since 2003. CDC will 
adapt it as needed to accommodate the data collection instruments. 
Respondents will receive the survey instrument as an official CDC e-
mail, which is clearly labeled, ``Epi-X Emergency Public Health 
Incident Information Request.'' The e-mail message will be accompanied 
by a link to an Epi-X Forum discussion web page. Respondents can 
provide their answers to the survey questions by posting information 
within the discussion.
    There are no costs to respondents except their time. The total 
estimated annual burden hours are 24,400.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                      No. of      Average burden
                       Type of respondent                             No. of       responses per   per response
                                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State epidemiologists...........................................              50             104               1
City and county health officials................................            1600              12               1
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    Dated: November 4, 2010.
Carol Walker,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2010-28577 Filed 11-12-10; 8:45 am]
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