[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 189 (Thursday, September 29, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66965-66966]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-23506]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-16-0852]


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

    Prevalence Survey of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) and 
Antimicrobial Use in U.S. Acute Care Hospitals--Revision--National 
Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    Preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and reducing the 
emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance are priorities for the 
CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). 
Improving antimicrobial drug prescribing in the United States is a 
critical component of strategies to reduce antimicrobial resistance, 
and is a key component of the President's National Strategy for 
Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (CARB), which calls for 
``inappropriate inpatient antibiotic use for monitored conditions/
agents'' to be ``reduced 20% from 2014 levels'' (page 9, https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/carb_national_strategy.pdf). To achieve these goals and improve patient 
safety in the United States, it is necessary to know the current burden 
of infections and antimicrobial drug use in different healthcare 
settings, including the types of infections and drugs used in short-
term acute care hospitals, the pathogens causing infections, and the 
quality of antimicrobial drug prescribing.
    Today more than 5,000 short-term acute care hospitals participate 
in national HAI surveillance through the CDC's National Healthcare 
Safety Network (NHSN, OMB Control No. 0920-0666, expiration 12/31/18). 
These hospitals' surveillance efforts are focused on those HAIs that 
are required to be reported as part of state legislative mandates or 
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Inpatient Quality 
Reporting (IQR) Program. Hospitals do not report data on all types of 
HAIs occurring hospital-wide. Data from a previous prevalence survey 
showed that approximately 28% of all HAIs are included in the CMS IQR 
Program. Periodic assessments of the magnitude and types of HAIs 
occurring in all patient populations in hospitals are needed to inform 
decisions by local and national policy makers and by hospital infection 
prevention professionals regarding appropriate targets and strategies 
for HAI prevention.
    The CDC's hospital prevalence survey efforts began in 2008-2009. A 
pilot survey was 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 in 22 hospitals across 10 Emerging Infections Program 
sites (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, 
New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Tennessee). A full-scale, phase 3 
survey was conducted in 2011, involving 183 hospitals in the 10 
Emerging Infections Program (EIP) sites. Data from this survey 
conducted in 2011 showed that there were an estimated 722,000 HAIs in 
U.S acute care hospitals in 2011, and about half of the 11,282 patients 
included in the survey in 2011 were receiving antimicrobial drugs. The 
survey was repeated in 2015-2016 to update the national HAI and 
antimicrobial drug use burden; data from this survey will also provide 
baseline information on the quality of antimicrobial drug prescribing 
for selected, common clinical conditions in hospitals. Data collection 
is ongoing at this time.
    A revision of the prevalence survey's existing OMB approval is 
sought to reduce the data collection burden and to extend the approval 
to allow another short-term acute care hospital survey to be conducted 
in 2019. Data from the 2019 survey will be used to evaluate progress in 
eliminating HAIs and improving antimicrobial drug use.
    The 2019 survey will be performed in a sample of up to 300 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 2019, 
to identify CDC-defined HAIs and collect information on antimicrobial 
drug use. The survey data will be used to estimate the prevalence of 
HAIs and antimicrobial drug use and describe the distribution of 
infection types and pathogens. The data will also be used to determine 
the quality of antimicrobial drug prescribing. These data will inform 
strategies to reduce and eliminate healthcare-associated infections--a 
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/

[[Page 66966]]

winnablebattles/Goals.html) and the CARB National Strategy (https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/carb_national_strategy.pdf) 
and Action Plan (https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/national_action_plan_for_combating_antibotic-resistant_bacteria.pdf).
    There are no costs to the respondents other than their time. The 
total estimated annual burden hours is 1,860. This represents a 
reduction in the total estimated annual burden hours from the previous 
approval due to a reduction in the number of respondents.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                     Number of    Average burden
          Type of respondents                   Form name            Number of     responses per   per response
                                                                    respondents     respondent       (in hrs.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Infection preventionist...............  Healthcare Facility                  100               1           45/60
                                         Assessment (HFA).
Infection preventionist...............  Patient Information Form             100              63           17/60
                                         (PIF).
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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. 2016-23506 Filed 9-28-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P