[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 101 (Friday, May 24, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24152-24153]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-10835]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-19-0824]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has submitted the information 
collection request titled National Syndromic Surveillance Program--
Revision to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and 
approval. CDC previously published a ``Proposed Data Collection 
Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations'' notice on March 20, 
2019 to obtain comments from the public and affected agencies. CDC 
received one comment related to the previous notice. This notice serves 
to allow an additional 30 days for public and affected agency comments.
    CDC will accept all comments for this proposed information 
collection project. The Office of Management and Budget is particularly 
interested in comments that:
    (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]. Direct written comments 
and/or suggestions regarding the items contained in this notice to the 
Attention: CDC Desk Officer, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th 
Street NW, Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 395-5806. Provide 
written comments within 30 days of notice publication.

Proposed Project

    National Syndromic Surveillance Program (OMB Control No. 0920-0824, 
Exp. 5/31/2019)--Revision--Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology and 
Laboratory Services (CSELS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    Syndromic surveillance uses syndromic data and statistical tools to 
detect, monitor, and characterize unusual activity for further public 
health investigation or response. Syndromic data include electronic 
extracts of electronic health records (EHRs) from patient encounter 
data from emergency departments, urgent care, ambulatory care, and 
inpatient healthcare settings, as well as pharmacy and laboratory data. 
Though these data are being captured for different purposes, they are 
monitored in near real-time as potential indicators of an event, a 
disease, or an outbreak of public health significance. On the national 
level, these data are used to improve nationwide situational awareness 
and enhance responsiveness to hazardous events and disease outbreaks to 
protect America's health, safety, and security.
    The BioSense Program was created by congressional mandate as part 
of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and 
Response Act of 2002 and was launched by the CDC in 2003. The BioSense 
Program has since been expanded into the National Syndromic 
Surveillance Program (NSSP) which promotes and advances development of 
a syndromic surveillance system for the timely exchange of syndromic 
data.
    CDC requests a three-year approval for a Revision for NSSP (OMB 
Control No. 0920-0824, Expiration Date 5/31/2019). This Revision 
includes a new request for approval to receive onboarding data from 
state, local and territorial public health departments about healthcare 
facilities in their jurisdiction.
    NSSP features the BioSense Platform and a collaborative Community 
of Practice. The BioSense Platform is a secure integrated electronic 
health information system that CDC provides, primarily for use by 
state, local and

[[Page 24153]]

territorial public health departments. It includes standardized 
analytic tools and processes that enable users to rapidly collect, 
evaluate, share, and store syndromic surveillance data. NSSP promotes a 
Community of Practice in which participants collaborate to advance the 
science and practice of syndromic surveillance. Health departments use 
the BioSense Platform to receive healthcare data from facilities in 
their jurisdiction, conduct syndromic surveillance, and share the data 
with other jurisdictions and CDC.
    The BioSense Platform provides the ability to analyze healthcare 
encounter data from EHRs, as well as laboratory data. All EHR and 
laboratory data reside outside of CDC in a cloud-enabled, web-based 
platform that has Authorization to Operate from CDC. The BioSense 
Platform sits in the secure, private Government Cloud which is simply 
used as a storage and processing mechanism, as opposed to on-site 
servers at CDC. This environment provides users with easily managed on-
demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources such 
as networks, servers, software, tools, storage, and services, with 
limited need for additional IT support. Each site (i.e., state or local 
public health department) controls its data within the cloud and is 
provided with free secure data storage space with tools for posting, 
receiving, controlling and analyzing their data; an easy-to-use data 
display dashboard; and a shared environment where users can collaborate 
and advance public health surveillance practice. Each site is 
responsible for creating its own data use agreements with the 
facilities that are sending the data, retains ownership of any data it 
contributes to its exclusive secure space, and can share data with CDC 
or users from other sites.
    NSSP has three different types of information collection:
    (1) Collection of onboarding data about healthcare facilities 
needed for state, local, and territorial public health departments to 
submit EHR data to the BioSense Platform;
    (2) Collection of registration data needed to allow users access to 
the BioSense Platform tools and services; and
    (3) Collection of data sharing permissions so that state and local 
health departments can share data with other state and local health 
departments and CDC.
    Healthcare data shared with CDC can include: EHR data received by 
state and local public health departments from facilities including 
hospital emergency departments and inpatient settings, urgent care, and 
ambulatory care; laboratory tests ordered and their results from 
LabCorp, a national private sector laboratory company; and EHR data 
from the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Health and 
Human Services (HHS) National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) Disaster 
Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs).
    Respondents include state, local, and territorial public health 
departments. There are no costs to respondents other than their time to 
participate. The only burden incurred by the health departments are for 
submitting onboarding data about facilities to CDC, submitting 
registration data about users to CDC, and setting up data sharing 
permissions with CDC. The estimated annual burden is 195 hours.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                     Number of    Average burden
          Type of respondents                   Form name            Number of     responses per   per response
                                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)
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State, Local, and Territorial Public    Onboarding..............              10             100           10/60
 Health Departments.
State, Local, and Territorial Public    Registration............              10              15           10/60
 Health Departments.
State, Local, and Territorial Public    Data Sharing Permissions              10               1           15/60
 Health Departments.
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Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2019-10835 Filed 5-23-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P