[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 75 (Thursday, April 20, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18650-18652]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-07963]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-17-17ABE; Docket No. CDC-2017-0034]


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, as 
required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites 
comment on a proposed information collection plan titled 
``Developmental Projects to Improve the National Health and Nutrition 
Examination Survey and Related Programs Generic.'' This generic 
clearance request covers projects that will help evaluate and improve 
upon issues such as survey design and operations, as well as examine 
the feasibility and challenges that may arise with developing future 
content for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 
(NHANES) (OMB# 0920-0950, expires December 31, 2019) or similar 
studies.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before June 19, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2017-
0034 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

[[Page 18651]]

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

    Developmental Projects to Improve the National Health and Nutrition 
Examination Survey and Related Programs Generic--New--National Center 
for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    Section 306 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 U.S.C. 
242k), as amended, authorizes that the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services (DHHS), acting through NCHS, shall collect statistics on the 
extent and nature of illness and disability; environmental, social and 
other health hazards; and determinants of health of the population of 
the United States. The Division of Health and Nutrition Examination 
Surveys (DHNES) has conducted national surveys and related projects 
periodically between 1970 and 1994, and continuously since 1999.
    The mission of DHNES programs is to produce descriptive statistics 
which measure the health and nutrition status of the general 
population. The continuous operation of DHNES programs presents unique 
challenges in testing new survey content and activities, such as 
outreach or participant screening etc.
    This generic request covers developmental projects to help evaluate 
and enhance DHNES existing and proposed data collection activities to 
increase research capacity and improve data quality. The information 
collected through this Generic Information Collection Request will not 
be used to make generalizable statements about the population of 
interest or to inform public policy; however, methodological findings 
from these projects may be reported.
    The purpose and use of projects under this NHANES generic clearance 
would include developmental projects necessary for activities such as 
testing new procedures, equipment, and approaches that are going to be 
folded into NHANES; designing and testing examination components or 
survey questions; creating new studies including biomonitoring and 
clinical measures; creating new cohorts, including a pregnancy and/or a 
birth--24 month cohort; testing of the cognitive and interpretive 
aspects of survey methodology; feasibility testing of proposed new 
components or modifications to existing components; testing of human-
computer interfaces/usability; assessing the acceptability of proposed 
NHANES components among likely participants; testing alternative 
approaches to existing NHANES procedures, including activities related 
to improving nonresponse; testing the use of or variations/adjustments 
in incentives; testing content of Web based surveys; testing the 
feasibility of obtaining bodily fluid specimens (blood, urine, semen, 
saliva, breastmilk) and tissue sample (swabs); testing digital imaging 
technology and related procedures (e.g., retinal scan, liver 
ultrasound, Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), prescription and 
over-the-counter dietary supplements bottles); testing the feasibility 
of and procedure/processes for accessing participant's medical records 
from healthcare settings (e.g., hospitals and physician offices); 
testing the feasibility and protocols for home examination 
measurements; testing survey materials and procedures to improve 
response rates, including changes to advance materials and protocols, 
changes to the incentive structure, introduction of new and timely 
outreach and awareness procedures including the use of social media; 
conducting crossover studies; creating and testing digital survey 
materials; conducting customer satisfaction assessments.
    The types of participants covered by the NHANES generic may include 
current or past NHANES participants; family or household members of 
NHANES participants; individuals eligible to be participants in NHANES, 
but who did not screen into the actual survey; convenience samples; 
volunteers; subject matter experts or consultants such as survey 
methodologist, academic researchers, clinicians or other health care 
providers; NHANES data or Web site users; members of the general public 
or individuals abroad who would be part of a collaborative development 
project or projects between NCHS and related public health agencies in 
the U.S. and/or abroad.
    The type of participant involved in a given developmental project 
would be determined by the nature of the project. The details of each 
project will be included in the specific information collection 
requests under this generic plan.
    There is no cost to respondents other than their time. A three year 
clearance is requested.

                                                            Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                                                              Average
                                                                                             Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
              Type of  respondent                               Form name                   respondents    responses per   response (in        hours
                                                                                                            respondent        hours)
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Individuals, Households, Volunteers, and NHANES  Developmental Projects, Special Study,            5,500               1               3          16,500
 participants.                                    Focus Group documents.
Subject Matter Experts.........................  Focus Group/ Developmental Project                   15               1               1              15
                                                  Documents.
NHANES Web and Data users......................  Customer Satisfaction/ Usability                  1,100               2            5/60             183
                                                  Documents.
                                                                                         ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total......................................  .......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............          16,698
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[[Page 18652]]

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. 2017-07963 Filed 4-19-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P