[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 21 (Friday, January 31, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5414-5415]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-02027]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day 14-0955]


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 
(404) 639-7570 or send an email to [email protected]. Send written comments 
to CDC Desk Officer, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 
20503 or by fax to (202) 395-5806. Written comments should be received 
within 30 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Early Hearing Detection and Intervention--Pediatric Audiology Links 
to Service (EHDI-PALS) Survey (0920-0955, Expiration 02/28/2014)--
Revision--National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental 
Disabilities (NCBDDD), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The Division of Human Development and Disability, located within 
NCBDDD, promotes the health of babies, children, and adults, with a 
focus on preventing birth defects and developmental disabilities and 
optimizing the health outcomes of those with disabilities. Since the 
passage of the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Act, 97% 
of newborn infants are now screened for hearing loss prior to hospital 
discharge. However, many of these infants have not received needed 
hearing tests and follow up services after their hospital discharges. 
The 2011 national average loss to follow-up/loss to documentation rate 
is at 35%. This rate remains an area of critical concern for state EHDI 
programs and CDC-EHDI team's goal of timely diagnosis by 3 months of 
age and intervention by 6 months of age.
    Many states cite the lack of audiology resources as the main factor 
behind the high loss to follow up. To compound the problem, many 
pediatric audiologists may be proficient evaluating children age 5 and 
older but are not proficient with diagnosing infants or younger 
children because children age 5 and younger require a different skill 
set.
    No existing literature or database was available to help states 
verify and quantify their states' true follow up capacity until this 
project went live in 2013.
    Meeting since April 2010, the EHDI-PALS workgroup has sought 
consensus on the loss to follow up/loss to documentation issue facing 
the EHDI programs. A survey based on standard of care practice was 
developed for state EHDI programs to quantify the pediatric audiology 
resource distribution within their state, particularly audiology 
facilities that are equipped to provide follow up services for children 
age 5 and younger. After nine months of data collection, preliminary 
data suggested that children residing in certain regions of the United 
States who were loss to follow up were due to the distance parents had 
to travel to reach a pediatric audiology facility. For example, parents 
who reside in western region of Nebraska and Iowa on average have to 
drive over 100 miles to reach a pediatric audiology facility.
    CDC is requesting an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval 
to continue collecting audiology facility information from audiologists 
or facility managers so both parents, physicians and state EHDI 
programs will have a tool to find where

[[Page 5415]]

the pediatric audiology facilities are located. This survey will 
continue to allow CDC-EHDI team and state EHDI programs to compile a 
systematic, quantifiable distribution of audiology facilities and the 
capacity of each facility to provide services for children age 5 and 
younger. The data collected will also allow the CDC-EHDI team to 
analyze facility distribution data to improve technical assistance to 
State EHDI programs.
    Two additional questions will be added to the existing survey. The 
two questions will ask for more information from audiology facilities 
that provide services by remote telepractice technology. This 
information will be of vital interest and benefit for both parents who 
live in remote regions of the US and state EHDI programs to maximize 
resource coverage.
    Respondents will all be audiologists who manage a facility or 
provide audiologic care for children age 5 and younger. To minimize 
burden and improve convenience, the survey will continue to be 
available via a secure password protected Web site. Placing the survey 
on the internet ensures convenient, on-demand access by the 
audiologists. Financial cost is minimized because no mailing fee will 
be associated with sending or responding to this survey.
    EHDI-PALS currently has 892 facilities in the database since the 
beginning of the data collection. All 892 facilities' contacts will 
receive a brief email from the University of Maine to remind them to 
review their survey answers. It is estimated that approximately 800 
audiologists will do so.
    It takes approximately nine minutes per person to review the survey 
answers. Both the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) 
and American Academy of Audiology (AAA) are members of the EHDI-PALS 
workgroup and will continue to disseminate a request through 
association e-newsletters and e-announcements to all audiologists who 
provide services to children younger than 5 years of age to complete 
the EHDI-PALS survey. It is estimated that, potentially, an additional 
400 new audiologists will complete the revised survey, which will take 
approximately nine minutes per respondent. The nine minutes calculation 
is based on a previous timed pre-test with six volunteer audiologists.
    There are no costs to respondents other than their time. The total 
estimated annual burden hours are 180.

                                      Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                               Number of      Average burden per
           Respondents                 Form name           Number of         responses per       response (in
                                                          respondents         respondent            hours)
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Audiologists who have completed   Annual Survey                     800                   1                9/60
 survey.                           Review.
New Audiologists................  Revised Survey....                400                   1                9/60
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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. 2014-02027 Filed 1-30-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P