[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 182 (Friday, September 18, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58377-58378]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-20556]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Non-Substantive Change 
Review by the Office of Management and Budget

    The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 
(SAMHSA) has submitted the following request (see below) for a Non-
substantive Change review under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35). A copy of the information collection plans may be obtained 
by calling the SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer on (240) 276-0361.
    Title: 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
    OMB Number: 0930-0110.
    Frequency: Annual.
    Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
    The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) is a survey of 
the U.S. civilian, non-institutionalized population aged 12 years old 
or older. The data are used to determine the prevalence of use of 
tobacco products, alcohol, illicit substances, and illicit use of 
prescription drugs. The results are used by SAMHSA, the Office of 
National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), federal government agencies, and 
other organizations and researchers to establish policy, direct program 
activities, and better allocate resources.
    While NSDUH must be updated periodically to reflect changing 
substance use and mental health issues and to continue producing 
current data a non-substantive change has been warranted in response to 
the COVID-19 pandemic. For on the 2020 NSDUH the following minor 
changes are planned: (1) Adding eleven COVID-19 questions; and (2) four 
telemedicine utilization questions.
    The COVID-19 questions seek to assess the pandemic effects on 
substance use and mental health in the United States. Including these 
questions on the NSDUH survey will allow SAMHSA to provide national-
level estimates on the impact of COVID-19 on substance use and mental 
health. The four questions on telemedicine utilization will provide 
national, systematic survey data on its use to treat substance use and 
mental health in the United States. The updates will also allow the 
NSDUH to transition to a more agile data collection methodology. As 
certain parts of the United States reduce COVID-19 restrictions in-
person data collection will resume in October 2020 when possible. 
However, in order to collect sufficient data to produce nationally 
representative estimates, a modified sampling strategy including 
alternate modes of administration will be applied including telephone 
and online interviews in areas with COVID-19 restrictions.
    As with all NSDUH/NHSDA (Prior to 2002, the NSDUH was referred to 
as the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse) surveys conducted since 
1999, the sample size of the survey for 2020 will be only be sufficient 
to permit prevalence estimates for each of the fifty states and the 
District of Columbia through multimodal data collection. Due to an 
estimated smaller sample size there is no increase to the annualized 
burden hours for the NSDUH. Adding the 11 COVID-19 pandemic and 4 
telemedicine items is expected to add approximately 10 minutes extra 
burden per respondent shown below in Table 1.

                          Table 1--Estimated Respondent Burden Hours With New Questions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
                    Response                        respondents    responses per   response  (in       hours
                                                                    respondent        hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COVID-19 Items..................................          42,000               1           0.133           5,586

[[Page 58378]]

 
Telemedicine Items..............................          42,000               1           0.033           1,400
Interview (including new questions).............          42,000               1           1.167          49,014
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Non-substantive Change approval is being requested because SAMHSA 
has determined proposed questions and modifications are necessary to 
address the effects of COVID-19 on substance use and mental health in 
American communities. Because of these additional questions, this 
Federal Register notice is a revision from the one that was published 
on August 13, 2019.
    Send comments to Carlos Graham, SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, 
5600 Fisher Lane, Room 15E57A, Rockville, MD 20852 OR email him a copy 
at [email protected]. Written comments should be received by 
November 17, 2020.

Carlos Graham,
Social Science Analyst.
[FR Doc. 2020-20556 Filed 9-17-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P