[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 244 (Friday, December 18, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 82481-82483]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27820]


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

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[CDC-2020-0123]


Announcement and Request for comment on Non-Substantive Changes 
to Three Data Collections

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

ACTION: Request for comment.

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

SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the opening of 
a public docket to obtain comment on non-substantive changes to three 
data collections conducted by CDC's National Center for Health 
Statistics (NCHS). Although CDC has already obtained approval from the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act 
on these non-substantive changes, CDC is requesting public comment on 
these non-substantive changes.

DATES: Electronic or written comments must be received by February 16, 
2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2020-
0123, by either of the following methods.

    Note: CDC does not accept comments by email.

     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, 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, Docket Number, and the OMB number associated with the survey 
about which comments are being provided. CDC will post, without change, 
all relevant comments to Regulations.gov.
    Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking 
portal (regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed above. 
Do not submit comments by email.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffrey M. Zirger, 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: With this notice, CDC is providing public 
notice regarding the addition of a small number of COVID-19 related 
questions to each of the following surveys National Ambulatory Medical 
Care Survey (NAMCS) OMB Control No. 0920-0278, National Electronic 
Health Records Survey (NEHRS) OMB Control No. 0920-1015, and National 
Hospital Care Survey (NHCS) OMB Control No. 0920-0212. These new 
questions are designed to provide information that is essential to 
CDC's emergency response to the outbreak of a novel coronavirus. 
Because these three OMB numbers are associated with ongoing, long-term 
collections, OMB requires that public comments be solicited to inform 
any adjustments to the wording of the questions or modification of the 
specific content of the COVID-19 related

[[Page 82482]]

questions in future rounds of data collections.

National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) (OMB Control No. 0920-
0278, Exp. 05/31/2022)

    NAMCS obtains nationally representative estimates on the provision 
of health care in physician offices and community health centers 
(CHCs).
    NAMCS added a short block of questions related to COVID-19 in both 
(1) the traditional office-based Physician Induction Interview, and (2) 
the Community Health Center (CHC) Director Induction Interview to 
provide essential information on how the pandemic affected care 
provided in office based physician offices and CHCs. The five questions 
(some with sub-questions) added are presented below. No one respondent 
would answer all sub-questions. Since the interviewer has gained 
efficiency in the response options for the other non-COVID-19 
questions, the additional five questions will be absorbed by the 
current estimated burden calculations. Therefore, no change in burden 
is expected.

NAMCS-1 Traditional Physician Induction Interview

    Now I would like to ask you a few questions about the 
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the impact it had on operations 
in your office and on your staff.
    During the past THREE months, how often did your office 
experience shortages of any of the following personal protective 
equipment due to the onset of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) 
pandemic?

Respirators or other approved facemasks
Eye protection, isolation gowns, or gloves

    During the past THREE months, did your office have the ability 
to test patients for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection?
    During the past THREE months, how often did your office have a 
location where patients could be referred to for coronavirus disease 
(COVID-19) testing?
    During the past THREE months, did your office need to turn away 
or refer elsewhere any patients with confirmed or presumptive 
positive coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection?
    During the past THREE months, did any of the following clinical 
care providers in your office test positive for coronavirus disease 
(COVID-19) infection?
Physicians
Physician assistants
Nurse practitioners
Certified nurse-midwives
Registered nurses/licensed practical nurses
Other clinical care providers

    During January and February 2020, was your office using 
telemedicine or telehealth technologies (for example, audio with 
video, web videoconference) to assess, diagnose, monitor, or treat 
patients?
    After February 2020, did your office's use of telemedicine or 
telehealth technologies to conduct patient visits increase?
    After February 2020, how much has your office's use of 
telemedicine or telehealth technologies to conduct patient visits 
increased?
    After February 2020, has your office started using telemedicine 
or telehealth technologies?
    Since your office started using these technologies, how many of 
your patient visits have been conducted using telemedicine or 
telehealth technologies?

NAMCS-1 Community Health Center (CHC) Respondent Induction Interview

    Now I would like to ask you a few questions about the 
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the impact it had on operations 
in your CHC and on your staff.
    During the past THREE months, how often did your center 
experience shortages of any of the following personal protective 
equipment due to the onset of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) 
pandemic?
Respirators or other approved facemasks
    Eye protection, isolation gowns, or gloves
    During the past THREE months, did your center have the ability 
to test patients for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection?
    During the past THREE months, how often did your center 
experience shortages of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests for any 
patients who needed testing?
    During the past THREE months how often did your center have a 
location where patients could be referred to for coronavirus disease 
(COVID-19) testing?
    During the past THREE months, did your center need to turn away 
or refer elsewhere any patients with confirmed or presumptive 
positive coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection?
    During the past THREE months, did any of the following clinical 
care providers in your center test positive for coronavirus disease 
(COVID-19) infection?

Physicians
Physician assistants
Nurse practitioners
Certified nurse-midwives
Registered nurses/licensed practical nurses
Other clinical care providers

    During January and February 2020, was your center using 
telemedicine or telehealth technologies (for example, audio with 
video, web videoconference) to assess, diagnose, monitor, or treat 
patients?
    After February 2020, did your center's use of telemedicine or 
telehealth technologies to conduct patient visits increase?
    After February 2020, how much has your center's use of 
telemedicine or telehealth technologies to conduct patient visits 
increased?
    After February 2020, has your center started using telemedicine 
or telehealth technologies?
    Since your center started using these technologies, how many of 
your patient visits have been conducted using telemedicine or 
telehealth technologies?
    National Electronic Health Records Survey (NEHRS) (OMB Control No. 
0920-1015, Exp. 12/31/2022)
    NEHRS collects information on office-based physicians' adoption and 
use of electronic health record (EHR) systems, practice information, 
patient engagement, controlled substances prescribing practices, use of 
health information exchange (HIE), and the documentation and burden 
associated with medical record systems(which include both paper-based 
and EHR systems).
    Six telemedicine technology questions to assess the use of 
telemedicine to provide clinical services to patients in response to 
the COVID-19 pandemic were added to NEHRS. The additional six questions 
will be absorbed by the current estimated burden calculations. 
Therefore, no change in burden is expected.

NEHRS Questions

    Does your practice use telemedicine technology (e.g., audio, 
audio with video, web videoconference) for patient visits?
    1. Since January 2020, what percentage of your patient visits 
were through telemedicine technology?
    2. What type(s) of telemedicine tools did you use for patient 
visits?
    3. What, if any, issues affected your use of telemedicine?
    4. To what extent are you able to provide similar quality of 
care during telemedicine visits as you do during in-person visits?
    5. Please rate your overall satisfaction with using telemedicine 
technology for patient visits.
    6. Do you plan to continue using telemedicine visits (in 
addition to in-person visits) when appropriate once the COVID-19 
pandemic is over?

National Hospital Care Survey (NHCS) (OMB Control No. 0920-0212, Exp. 
03/31/2022)

    NHCS collects information on inpatient hospital stays. The six 
questions related to COVID-19 were added to the NHCS Annual Hospital 
Interview were designed to provide insight into the impact of COVID-19 
on the operations of hospital emergency departments (EDs) in the United 
States. These questions will ask about: (1) Shortages of COVID-19 
tests, (2) creation of outside COVID-19 screening areas, (3) referrals 
for patients with confirmed or presumptive positive COVID-19 infection, 
(4) clinical care providers at the responding hospital testing positive 
for COVID-19, (5) the number of inpatient/emergency department ED 
visits for the year that were related to confirmed COVID-19, and (6) 
the number of inpatient/ED visits for the year that were related to 
presumptive positive COVID-19. The additional data collected from these 
questions only posed a minimal burden

[[Page 82483]]

on respondents; and was absorbed in the OMB burden previously approved.
    NHCS Questions:
    1. In the past year, did your hospital experience shortages of 
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests for any patients with 
presumptive positive COVID-19 infection?
    2. In the past year, did your hospital create areas outside the 
hospital entrance to screen patients for coronavirus disease (COVID-
19) infection?
    3. In the past year, did your hospital need to turn away or 
refer elsewhere any patients with confirmed or presumptive positive 
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection?
    4. In the past year, did any of the following clinical care 
providers in your hospital test positive for coronavirus disease 
(COVID-19) infection?

a. Physicians
b. Physician assistants
c. Nurse practitioners
d. Certified nurse-midwives
e. Registered nurses/licensed practical nurses
f. Other clinical care providers

    5. For calendar year 2020, how many inpatient/ED visits at your 
hospital were related to CONFIRMED coronavirus disease (COVID-19) 
infections, by quarter or by year? Fill in the grid below.
    6. For calendar year 2020, how many inpatient/ED visits at your 
hospital were Confirmed COVID-19 visits and how many were 
Presumptive Positive COVID-19 visits by quarter or by year?

    Dated: December 14, 2020.
Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2020-27820 Filed 12-17-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-19-P