[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 88 (Friday, May 6, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27149-27151]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-09787]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60 Day-22-0824; Docket No. CDC-2022-0059]


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 effort to reduce public burden and maximize the 
utility of government information, invites the general public and other 
federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a continuing information 
collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This 
notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project 
titled the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP). The NSSP 
promotes and advances development of a syndromic surveillance system 
for the timely exchange of syndromic data.

DATES: CDC must receive written comments on or before July 5, 2022.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2022-
0059 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal www.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 H21-8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments 
to www.regulations.gov.
    Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking 
portal (www.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 Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection 
Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton 
Road NE, MS H21-8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; Telephone: 404-639-7570; 
Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA)

[[Page 27150]]

(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 the OMB for approval. To 
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 
proposed data collection as described below.
    The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:
    1. 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;
    2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected;
    4. 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 
submissions of responses; and
    5. Assess information collection costs.

Proposed Project

    National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) (OMB Control No. 
0920-0824, Exp. 7/31/2022)--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 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, Exp. 7/31/2022). This Revision includes a 
request for approval to continue to receive onboarding data from state, 
local and territorial public health departments about healthcare 
facilities in their jurisdiction; registration data needed to allow 
users access to the BioSense Platform tools and services; and data 
sharing permissions so that state, local and territorial health 
departments can share data with other state, local and territorial 
health departments and CDC.
    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 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 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; mortality data from state and local vital statistics 
offices; laboratory tests ordered and their results from 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. 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 671 hours. There 
are no costs to respondents other than their time to participate.

[[Page 27151]]



                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of      Avg. burden
      Type of respondents           Form name        Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)      (in hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State, Local, and Territorial   Onboarding......              20             100           10/60             333
 Public Health Departments.
State, Local, and Territorial   Registration....              20             100           10/60             333
 Public Health Departments.
State, Local, and Territorial   Data Sharing                  20               1           15/60               5
 Public Health Departments.      Permissions.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............             671
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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. 2022-09787 Filed 5-5-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P