[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 154 (Friday, August 9, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48680-48681]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-19270]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-13-0728]


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 LeRoy Richardson, 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

National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS)--Revision--
Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (OSELS), 
Public Health Surveillance and Informatics Program Office (PHSIPO), 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The Public Health Services Act (42 U.S.C. 241) authorizes CDC to 
disseminate nationally notifiable condition information. The Nationally 
Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS) is based on data 
collected at the state, territorial and local levels as a result of 
legislation and regulations in those jurisdictions that require health 
care providers, medical laboratories, and other entities to submit 
health-related data on reportable conditions to public health 
departments. These reportable conditions, which include infectious and 
non-infectious diseases, vary by jurisdiction depending upon each 
jurisdiction's health priorities and needs. Currently approximately 300 
conditions are reportable in one or more of the states. Since 
infectious disease agents and environmental hazards often cross 
geographical boundaries, public health departments have to be able to 
share data on certain conditions across jurisdictions and coordinate 
program activities to prevent and control the conditions. Each year, 
the Council of State and Territorial Disease Epidemiologists (CSTE), 
supported by CDC, performs an assessment of conditions reported to 
state, territorial and local jurisdictions to determine which should be 
designated nationally notifiable conditions. For conditions that are 
nationally notifiable, case notifications are voluntarily submitted to 
CDC so that information can be shared across jurisdictional boundaries 
and both surveillance and prevention and control activities can be 
coordinated at regional and national levels.
    CDC requests a three-year approval for a Revision for the National 
Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS), [National Electronic 
Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS, OMB Control No. 0920-0728, 
Expiration Date 01/31/2014]. This request has been developed in 
coordination with four other CDC applications to OMB for nationally 
notifiable diseases case notification: Control Nos. 0920-0128, 
(Congenital Syphilis Surveillance), 0920-0819 (Nationally Notifiable 
Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Morbidity Surveillance) 0920-0009 
(National Disease Surveillance Program--I. Case Reports) and 0920-0004 
(National Disease Surveillance Program--II. Disease Summaries). This 
consolidation of information collection 0920-0128 and some parts of 
information collections 0920-0819, 0920-0009 and 0920-0004, is an 
important step in implementing CDC's longer term strategy of developing 
a more coordinated and integrated infectious diseases surveillance 
system that reduces overlap and duplication; increases 
interoperability, integration and efficiency; and thereby reduces 
burden to state, territorial and local health departments that report 
infectious disease data to CDC. Due to the coordination, this NNDSS 
application includes 11 conditions and many additional data elements 
for the case notifications that were not previously included in NNDSS 
OMB application Control No. 0920-0728. For many conditions submitted to 
CDC,

[[Page 48681]]

participating public health departments also submit data elements which 
are specific to each condition. With the coordination with other CDC 
programs conducting surveillance on notifiable conditions, this 
application includes disease-specific tables for 68 diseases. The 2010 
NNDSS OMB application included disease-specific data elements for only 
14 of those conditions.
    Because this information collection request includes case 
notifications that were not part of the 2010 NNDSS/NEDSS application, 
replaces one application and replaces parts of three other OMB 
applications, burden estimates have been adjusted to incorporate burden 
estimates from the other four applications. The estimates are adjusted 
for the increased number of conditions reported to NNDSS, the expansion 
of core data elements, and the inclusion of more disease-specific 
tables. These changes have increased the burden estimates in this 
application in comparison with the burden estimates in the 2010 NNDSS/
NEDSS OMB application (OMB Control No. 0920-0728). As CDC works with 
state, territorial and local health departments to develop and 
implement new information technologies to submit these data through 
NNDSS, burden will also increase as the public health departments 
commit resources to implementing the new technologies. However, over 
the next 3 years, as the new automated electronic systems are 
implemented, burden will be decreased. The estimated annual burden is 
28,340 hours.

                                      Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
                   Respondents                      respondents    responses per   response  (in    (in hours)
                                                                    respondent        hours)
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States..........................................              50              52              10           26000
Territories.....................................               5              52               5            1300
Cities..........................................               2              52              10            1040
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............          28,340
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Leroy A. Richardson,
Chief, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the 
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2013-19270 Filed 8-8-13; 8:45 am]
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