[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 233 (Tuesday, December 4, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71798-71799]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-29173]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60 Day-13-0852]


Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

    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 Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects. 
To request more information on the proposed projects or to obtain a 
copy of the data collection plans and instruments, call 404-639-7570 
and send comments to Ron Otten, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, GA 
30333 or send an email to [email protected].
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology. Written comments should be received 
within 60 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Prevalence Survey of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) and 
Antimicrobial Use in U.S. Acute Care Hospitals--Extension (0920-0852 
expiration 5/31/13)--National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic 
Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    Preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) is a CDC 
priority. An essential step in reducing the occurrence of HAIs is to 
estimate accurately the burden of these infections in U.S. hospitals, 
and to describe the types of HAIs and causative organisms. The scope 
and magnitude of HAIs in the United States were last directly estimated 
in the 1970s in which comprehensive data were collected from a sample 
of 338 hospitals; 5% of hospitalized patients acquired an infection not 
present at the time of admission. Because of the substantial resources 
necessary to conduct hospital-wide surveillance in an ongoing manner, 
most of the more than 4,500 hospitals now reporting to the CDC's 
current HAI surveillance system, the National Healthcare Safety Network 
(NHSN 0920-0666 expiration 1/31/15), focus instead on device-associated 
and procedure-associated infections in selected patient locations, and 
do not report data on all types of HAIs occurring hospital-wide. 
Periodic assessments of the magnitude and types of HAIs occurring in 
all patient populations within acute care hospitals are needed to 
inform decisions by local and national policy makers and by hospital 
infection control personnel regarding appropriate targets and 
strategies for HAI prevention.
    In 2008-2009 in the previous project period, CDC developed a pilot 
protocol for a HAI point prevalence survey,

[[Page 71799]]

conducted over a 1-day period at each of nine acute care hospitals in 
one U.S. city. This pilot phase was followed in 2010 by a phase 2, 
limited roll-out HAI and antimicrobial use prevalence survey, conducted 
during July and August in 22 hospitals across 10 Emerging Infections 
Program sites (in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, 
Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Tennessee). Experience 
gained in the phase 1 and phase 2 surveys was used to conduct a full-
scale, phase 3 survey in 2011, involving 183 hospitals in the 10 EIP 
sites. Over 11,000 patients were surveyed, and analysis of HAI and 
antimicrobial use data is ongoing at this time.
    An extension of the prevalence survey's existing OMB approval is 
sought, to allow a repeat HAI and antimicrobial use prevalence survey 
to be performed in 2014. A repeat survey will allow further refinement 
of survey methodology and assessment of changes over time in 
prevalence, HAI distribution, and pathogen distribution. It will also 
allow for a re-assessment of the burden of antimicrobial use, at a time 
when antimicrobial stewardship is an area of active engagement in many 
acute care hospitals. The 2014 survey will be performed in a sample of 
up to 500 acute care hospitals, drawn from the acute care hospital 
populations in each of the 10 EIP sites (and including participation 
from many hospitals that participated in prior phases of the survey). 
Infection prevention personnel in participating hospitals and EIP site 
personnel will collect demographic and clinical data from the medical 
records of a sample of eligible patients in their hospitals on a single 
day in 2014, to identify CDC-defined HAIs. The surveys will provide 
data for CDC to make estimates of the prevalence of HAIs across this 
sample of U.S. hospitals as well as the distribution of infection types 
and causative organisms. These data can be used to work toward reducing 
and eliminating healthcare-associated infections--a Department of 
Health and Human Services (DHHS) Healthy People 2020 objective (http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=17). This survey project also supports the CDC 
Winnable Battle goal of improving national surveillance for healthcare-
associated infections (http://www.cdc.gov/winnablebattles/Goals.html).
    This survey assumes one respondent per hospital, a median of 75 
patients per hospital, and average data collection time of 15 minutes 
per patient. There are no costs to respondents other than their time. 
The estimated annualized burden is 9,375 hours.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                      Average
                                                      No. of         Number of      burden per     Total burden
          Respondents               Form name       respondents    responses per    response in     (in hours)
                                                                    respondent         hours
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Infection Prevention Personnel  Data Collection              500              75           15/60           9,375
 in Participating Hospitals.     Form.
                               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............           9,375
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    Dated: November 27, 2012.
Ron Otten,
Director, Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of the Associate 
Director for Science, Office of the Director, Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2012-29173 Filed 12-3-12; 8:45 am]
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