[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 246 (Thursday, December 22, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 93939-93940]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-30779]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-17-0728; Docket No. CDC-2016-0119]


Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice with comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part 
of its continuing efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the 
utility of government information, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or 
continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on the National 
Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). The NNDSS is the 
nation's public health surveillance system that monitors the occurrence 
and spread of diseases and conditions that are nationally notifiable or 
under national surveillance.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before February 21, 
2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2016-
0119 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection Review 
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road 
NE., MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. All relevant comments received will be posted 
without change to Regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided. For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to Regulations.gov.

    Please note: All public comment should be submitted through the 
Federal eRulemaking portal (Regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the 
address listed above.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan 
and instruments, contact the Information Collection Review Office, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-
D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of 
information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires 
Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register 
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new 
proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of 
information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information 
collection before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To 
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 
proposed data collection as described below.
    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; (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; and (e) estimates of capital or start-
up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services 
to provide information. Burden means the total time, effort, or 
financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, 
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This 
includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, 
install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of 
collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and 
maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to 
train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of 
information, to search data sources, to complete and review the 
collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the 
information.

Proposed Project

    National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (OMB Control 
Number 0920-0728, expires 1/31/2019)--Revision--Center for 
Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services, CSELS), 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 Diseases 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. Infectious disease agents 
and environmental hazards often cross geographical boundaries. Each 
year, the

[[Page 93940]]

Council of State and Territorial Disease Epidemiologists (CSTE), 
supported by CDC, determines which reportable conditions should be 
designated nationally notifiable and 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), OMB Control No. 0920-
0728, Expiration Date 01/31/2019. This Revision includes requests for 
approval to receive: (1) Case notification data from the Federated 
States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the 
Republic of Palau (independent nations that operate under a Compact of 
Free Association with the United States of America that are commonly 
referred to as ``freely associated states''); (2) case notification 
data for histoplasmosis which is now under standardized surveillance; 
and (3) case notification data for all enteric Escherichia coli 
infections should any of them become nationally notifiable or be placed 
under standardized surveillance. CDC already has approval to receive 
case notification data for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli 
(STEC) which is nationally notifiable.
    Although this Revision includes case notifications that were not 
part of the last NNDSS Revision, the estimate of the average burden per 
response based on the burden tables from all of the consolidated 
applications for states, cities, and territories has not changed. The 
addition of new diseases and conditions, should they become nationally 
notifiable or be placed under standardized surveillance, will not 
increase the burden since most case notifications are submitted from 
already existing databases. The burden on the states and cities is 
estimated to be 10 hours per response and the burden on the territories 
is estimated to be 5 hours per response. The total burden will increase 
because of the request to receive case notification data from the 
freely associated states. The burden on the freely associated states is 
estimated to be the same as the burden for the territories, 5 hours per 
response. This is because the methods and systems that the freely 
associated states use to send case notification data to CDC are nearly 
the same as the territories.
    There will be no costs to respondents other than their time. The 
estimated annual burden is 29,120 hours.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of      Avg. burden
      Type of respondents           Form name        Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)      (in hours)
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States........................  Weekly and                    50              52              10          26,000
                                 Annual.
Territories...................  Weekly and                     5              52               5           1,300
                                 Annual.
Freely Associated States......  Weekly and                     3              52               5             780
                                 Annual.
Cities........................  Weekly and                     2              52              10           1,040
                                 Annual.
                               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............          29,120
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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. 2016-30779 Filed 12-21-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P