[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 97 (Friday, May 19, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32219-32220]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10745]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-23-23CO]


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 Center for Health Statistics 
(NCHS) Rapid Surveys System (RSS)'' 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 February 17, 2023 to obtain comments from 
the public and affected agencies. CDC received two comments 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. Comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function. 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 Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Rapid Surveys System 
(RSS)--New--National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    Section 306 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 U.S.C.), as 
amended, authorizes that the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
(HHS), acting through NCHS, collect data about the health of the 
population of the United States. The NCHS Rapid Surveys System (RSS) 
will collect data on emerging public health topics, attitudes, and 
behaviors using cross-sectional samples from two commercially 
available, national probability-based online panels. The RSS will then 
combine these data to form estimates that approximate national 
representation in ways that many data collection approaches cannot. The 
RSS is intended to collect data in contexts in which decision makers' 
need for time-sensitive data of known quality about emerging and 
priority health concerns is a higher priority than their need for 
statistically unbiased estimates.
    The RSS will complement NCHS's current household survey systems. As 
quicker turnaround surveys that require less accuracy and precision 
than CDC's more rigorous population representative surveys, the RSS 
will incorporate multiple mechanisms to carefully evaluate the 
resulting survey data for their appropriateness for use in public 
health surveillance and research (e.g., hypothesis generating) and 
facilitate continuous quality improvement by supplementing these panels 
with intensive efforts to understand how well the estimates reflect 
populations at most risk. The RSS data dissemination strategy will 
communicate the strengths and limitations of data collected through 
online probability panels as compared to more robust data collection 
methods.
    The RSS has three major goals: (1) to provide CDC and other 
partners with time-sensitive data of known quality about emerging and 
priority health concerns; (2) to use these data collections to continue 
NCHS's evaluation of the quality of public health estimates generated 
from commercial online panels; and (3) to improve methods to 
communicate the appropriateness of public health estimates generated 
from commercial online panels.
    Each round's questionnaire will consist of four main components: 
(1) basic demographic information on respondents to be used as 
covariates in analyses; (2) new, emerging, or supplemental content 
proposed by NCHS, other CDC Centers, Institute, and Offices, and other 
HHS agencies; (3) questions used for calibrating the survey weights; 
and (4) additional content selected by NCHS to evaluate against 
relevant benchmarks. NCHS will use questions from Components 1 and 2 to 
provide relevant, timely data on new, emerging, and priority health 
topics to be used for decision making. NCHS will use questions from 
Components 3 and 4 to weight and evaluate the quality of the estimates 
coming from questions in

[[Page 32220]]

Components 1 and 2. Components 1 and 2 will contain different topics in 
each round of the survey. NCHS will submit a 30-day Federal Register 
Notice with information on the contents of each round of data 
collection.
    In the first round of RSS, contributed content is included on 
knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding Long COVID; mammograms and 
notifications about breast density; medical procedures on fallopian 
tubes and ovaries; concerns about genetic testing; knowledge about the 
relationship between alcohol use and cancer; sunscreen use and beliefs 
about sunscreen; use of chemical hair straighteners, relaxers, or 
pressing products; use of air cleaners or purifiers in the home; 
intimate partner violence; and new questions about race and ethnicity 
to assist in the development of recommendations on how to improve the 
quality and usefulness of OMB Statistical Policy Directive No. 15.
    NCHS will calibrate data from the RSS to other surveys. Questions 
used for calibration in the first round of RSS will include marital 
status and employment, social and work limitations, use of the internet 
in general and for medical reasons, telephone use, civic engagement, 
and language used at home and in other settings. All these questions 
have been on the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) in prior years 
allowing calibration to these data.
    Finally, several questions that were previously on NHIS will be 
used for benchmarking. Panelists in the RSS will be asked if they have 
been told they have chronic conditions including hypertension, high 
cholesterol, coronary heart disease, asthma, diabetes, and Long COVID. 
Questions about self-reported health; pregnancy status; height and 
weight, difficulty paying medical bills; access to and use of medical, 
dental, eye care and physical therapy; preventive care; mental health; 
and cigarette use will be used to benchmark the RSS to NCHS surveys.
    The RSS is designed to have four rounds of data collection each 
year with data being collected by two contractors with probability 
panels. A cross-sectional nationally representative sample will be 
drawn from the online probability panel maintained by each of the 
contractors. As part of the base (minimum sample size), each round of 
data collection will collect 2,000 responses per quarter. The RSS can 
be expanded by increasing the number of completed responses per round 
or the number of rounds per year as needed up to a maximum of 28,000 
responses per year per contractor or 56,000 total responses per year. 
Additionally, each data collection may include up to 2,000 additional 
responses per quarter (8,000 for the year) to improve 
representativeness. This increases the maximum burden by up to 16,000 
responses per year. The RSS may also target individual surveys to 
collect data only from specific subgroups within existing survey panels 
and may supplement data collection for such groups with additional 
respondents from other probability or nonprobability samples. An 
additional 12,000 responses per year may be used for these 
developmental activities. Survey questions being asked of the panelists 
will be cognitively tested. This cognitive testing will help survey 
users interpret the findings by understanding how respondents answer 
each question.
    CDC requests OMB approval for an estimated 28,079 burden hours 
annually over the course of the three-year approval period. There are 
no costs to respondents other than their time.

                                        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)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adults 18+.........................  Base Surveys...............          16,000               1           20/60
Adults 18+.........................  Potential Sample Expansion.          40,000               1           20/60
Adults 18+.........................  Additional Surveys to                16,000               1           20/60
                                      Increase
                                      Representativeness.
Adults 18+.........................  Developmental: Additional            12,000               1           20/60
                                      Surveys for Specific
                                      Subgroups.
Adults 18+.........................  Cognitive interviews.......              80               1               1
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Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Public Health 
Ethics and Regulations, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2023-10745 Filed 5-18-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P