[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 103 (Wednesday, May 31, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24973-24975]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-11112]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-17-1036; Docket No. CDC-2017-0051]


Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 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 ``Community 
Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER).'' CASPER is 
an effective public health tool designed to quickly provide low-cost, 
household-based information about a community's needs and health status 
in a simple, easy-to-understand format for decision makers.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before July 31, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2017-
0051 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 Leroy A. Richardson, 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

[[Page 24974]]

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

    Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) 
(OMB Control Number 0920-1036, Expiration 12/31/2017)--Revision--
National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) is requesting a 
revision of a currently approved generic clearance information 
collection request (GenICR) to allow the Center to conduct Community 
Assessments for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPERs), through 
methods developed by NCEH. CASPER is an effective public health tool 
designed to quickly provide low-cost, household-based information about 
a community's needs and health status in a simple, easy-to-understand 
format for decision makers. A CASPER can be conducted any time the 
public health needs of a community are not well known, including as 
part of disaster/emergency response to help inform decision making and 
distribution of resources, or in non-emergency settings to assess the 
public health needs of a community. In all situations, CASPERs provide 
timely public health information that is essential when engaging in 
sound public health action.
    For a CASPER to be initiated by CDC, a state, local, tribal, or 
territorial jurisdiction must first invite CDC to participate. 
Communities are identified by local, state, or regional emergency 
managers and health department officers. The process for conducting a 
CASPER includes planning and preparation, field work, analysis, and 
sharing results with stakeholders. Planning can take 24 hours to 
several months depending on the type of CASPER being conducted. Field 
work takes approximately five days. Due to emergency situations under 
which CASPERs are often requested by states (e.g., hurricane response, 
oil spill, flood, drought), it is important that CDC has the ability to 
gain urgent approval for data collection.
    The CASPER uses a validated statistical methodology that includes a 
two-stage probability sampling technique to collect information from a 
representative sample of 210 households in the community. Within the 
community, 30 clusters (typically census blocks) are selected based on 
probability proportional to size (i.e., the number of households) and, 
within each cluster, seven households are randomly selected for 
interview.
    Participation in a CASPER is voluntary. Consenting participants are 
not provided incentives for participating in the survey. Face-to-face 
interviews, usually taking 30 minutes or less, with one adult (>=18 
years of age) from a selected household are recorded on paper or in 
electronic form. In general, yes/no and multiple choice questions are 
used to collect household level information including, but not limited 
to, the following categories: Housing unit type and extent of damage to 
the dwelling, household needs, physical and behavioral health status, 
perception and response to public health communications, household 
emergency preparedness, and greatest reported need. While a majority of 
CASPERs collect only household-level information, there may be 
instances where the questionnaires are modified to collect a small 
amount of individual level data.
    Participants give verbal consent. Additionally, no data are 
collected that could link specific questionnaires to house addresses. 
Separate from the questionnaire, a tracking form is used to record the 
number of households visited, record households that should be 
revisited because a respondent was unavailable for interview, and 
calculate response rates upon completion of the CASPER. Complete 
addresses, including house number, street name, city, state, and zip 
code, are never recorded on any form. This information is not retained 
by CDC or entered into any database. There is no way to link data from 
the tracking form to specific household questionnaires.
    Though each CASPER will be different, in general, personally 
identifying information is not collected. In a minimal number of 
CASPERs, interview teams may come across households with urgent needs 
that present an immediate threat to life or health, where calling 
emergency services immediately is not appropriate. In these instances, 
the team may refer the household to appropriate services using a 
referral form that is not attached to the questionnaire. In the few 
instances where these forms are utilized, personally identifying 
information is collected. However, the forms go directly from the field 
team to the local CASPER coordinator for handling and rapid follow-up. 
When referral forms are used, the information is never retained by CDC 
or entered into any database. There is no way to link specific 
questionnaires to any information on the referral form.
    Since receiving initial approval for this GenICR, CDC has conducted 
two CASPERs. These CASPERs were in support of the 2016 California 
Drought in Mariposa County and the West Virginia Flooding of 2016. The 
2016 California Drought CASPER was a successful collaboration between 
the California Department of Public Health, the Mariposa County Health 
Department, and CDC which helped characterize the impacts of drought in 
Mariposa County as well as actions households have taken. These results 
were useful in allocating resources for response to the drought and in 
strengthening the emergency preparedness capacity of Mariposa County. 
The 2016 West Virginia Flood CASPER assessed household disaster 
preparedness, access to health care, health impacts due to flood 
damage, health information sources, and stage of disaster recovery. 
Approval of this revision of the GenICR will allow CDC to continue to 
provide low-cost, household-based information about a community's needs 
and health status in a simple, easy-to-understand format for decision 
makers.
    The estimated annualized burden is 631 hours. The estimated burden 
is based on conducting 6 emergency CASPERs per year, interviewing 210 
households per CASPER, conducting 30-minute interviews per household, 
and completing 24 referral forms per year. There is no cost to 
respondents other than their time.

Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

[[Page 24975]]



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                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
      Type of respondents           Form name       respondents    responses per   response (in     (in hours)
                                                                    respondent        hours)
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Households in the selected      CASPER                     1,260               1           30/60             630
 geographic area to be           Questionnaire.               24               1            2/60               1
 assessed.                      Referral Form...
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    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............             631
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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. 2017-11112 Filed 5-30-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P