[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 137 (Thursday, July 17, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41694-41695]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-16841]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-14-0607]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has submitted 
the following information collection request to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The notice for the proposed 
information collection is published to obtain comments from the public 
and affected agencies.
    Written comments and suggestions from the public and affected 
agencies concerning the proposed collection of information are 
encouraged. Your comments should address any of the following: (a) 
Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary 
for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility; (b) evaluate the 
accuracy of the agencies estimate of the burden of the proposed 
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology 
and assumptions used; (c) enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; (d) minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on those who are to respond, including 
through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or 
other technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses; and 
(e) assess information collection costs.
    To request additional information on the proposed project or to 
obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, call 
(404) 639-7570 or send an email to [email protected]. Written comments and/or 
suggestions regarding the items contained in this notice should be 
directed to the Attention: 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

    The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) (0920-0607, 
Expiration 12/31/2015)--Revision--National Center for Injury Prevention 
and Control (NCIPC), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    Violence is an important public health problem. In the United 
States, suicide and homicide are the second and third leading causes of 
death, respectively, in the 1-34 year old age group. Unfortunately, 
public health agencies do not know much more about the problem than the 
numbers and the sex, race, and age of the victims, or information 
obtainable from the standard death certificate. Death certificates, 
however, carry no information about key facts necessary for prevention 
such as the relationship of the victim and suspect and the 
circumstances of the deaths. Furthermore, death certificates are 
typically available 20 months after the completion of a single calendar 
year. Official publications of national violent death rates (i.e., 
those in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) rarely use data that 
are less than two years old.
    Local and Federal criminal justice agencies such as the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) provide slightly more information about 
homicides, but they do not routinely collect standardized data about 
suicides, which are in fact much more common than homicides. The FBI's 
Supplemental Homicide Report (SHRs) does collect basic information 
about the victim-suspect relationship and circumstances related to the 
homicide. SHRs, do not link violent deaths that are part of one 
incident such as homicide-suicides. It also is a voluntary system in 
which some 10-20 percent of police departments nationwide do not 
participate. The FBI's National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) 
provides slightly more information than SHRs, but it covers less of the 
country than SHRs. NIBRS also only provides data regarding homicides. 
Also, the Bureau of Justice Statistics Reports does not use data that 
are less than two years old.
    CDC requests OMB approval in order to revise its state-based 
surveillance system for violent deaths to provide coverage across all 
U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia. The 
surveillance system captures case record information held by medical 
examiners/coroners, vital statistics (i.e., death certificates), and 
law enforcement, including crime labs. Data is collected by each state 
in the system and entered

[[Page 41695]]

into a web system administered by CDC. Information is collected from 
these records about the characteristics of the victims and suspects, 
the circumstances of the deaths, and the weapons involved. States use 
standardized data elements and software designed by CDC. Ultimately, 
this information will guide states in designing, targeting, and 
evaluating programs that reduce multiple forms of violence. Neither 
victim's families nor suspects are contacted to collect this 
information; it all comes from existing records and is collected by 
state health department staff or their subcontractors. The number of 
hours per death required for the public agencies working with NVDRS 
states to retrieve and then refile their records is estimated to be 0.5 
hours per death.
    The president has submitted plans to fund the expansion of the 
state-based surveillance system to collect information in all 50 U.S. 
states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. This revision 
will allow 32 new state health departments, the health department of 
the District of Columbia, and 7 territorial governments to be added to 
the currently funded 18 state health departments, resulting in a total 
of 58 public health agencies, which include the 50 U.S. states, the 
District of Columbia, and territories to be included in the state-based 
surveillance system. Violent deaths include all homicides, suicides, 
legal interventions, deaths from undetermined causes, and unintentional 
firearm deaths. The average state will experience approximately 1,000 
such deaths each year.
    In the past, abstractors' time was included as burden as they were 
not compensated to abstract data from death certificates. Moving 
forward, we will no longer include state abstractors' time spent 
abstracting data in our estimates of public burden for NVDRS because 
state abstractors are funded by CDC to do this work. This significantly 
reduces the estimated public burden associated with NVDRS.
    There are no costs to respondents other than their time. The total 
estimated annual burden hours are 29,000.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                                  Average burden
         Type of respondents                 Form name            Number of      Responses per     per response
                                                                 respondents       respondent       (in hrs.)
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Public Agencies.....................  NVDRS Web System.......              58            1,000            30/60
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Leroy 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. 2014-16841 Filed 7-16-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P