[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 80 (Thursday, April 25, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24422-24423]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-09756]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[30Day-13-0853]
Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a
list of information collection requests under review by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction
Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call
(404) 639-7570 or send an email to [email protected]. Send written comments
to CDC Desk Officer, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC
20503 or by fax to (202) 395-5806. Written comments should be received
within 30 days of this notice.
Proposed Project
Asthma Information Reporting System (AIRS) (0920-0853, Expiration
06/30/2013)--Extension--Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch
(APRHB), National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Background and Brief Description
Under the authority of the Public Health Service Act, CDC is
seeking a three-year extension of OMB approval for the Asthma
Information Reporting System (AIRS) information collection. In 1999,
the CDC initiated its National Asthma Control Program, a population-
based public health approach to address the burden of asthma. The
program supports the goals and objectives of ``Healthy People 2020''
for asthma and is based on the public health principles of
surveillance, partnerships, and interventions. Through AIRS, the
information collection request has and will continue to provide NCEH
with routine information about the activities and performance of the
state and territorial grantees funded under the National Asthma Control
Program http://www.cdc.gov/asthma/nacp.htm.
The primary purpose of the National Asthma Control Program is to
develop program capacity to address asthma from a public health
perspective to bring about: (1) A focus on asthma-related activity
within states; (2) an increased understanding of asthma-related data
and its application to program planning and evaluation through the
development and maintenance of an ongoing asthma surveillance system;
(3) an increased recognition, within the public health structure of
states, of the potential to use a public health approach to reduce the
burden of asthma; (4) linkages of state health agencies to other
agencies and organizations addressing asthma in the population; and (5)
implementation of interventions to achieve positive health impacts,
such as reducing the number of deaths, hospitalizations, emergency
department visits, school or work days missed, and limitations on
activity due to asthma.
Prior to the implementation of AIRS, data were collected on a semi-
annual basis from state asthma control programs as part of regular
reporting of cooperative agreement activities. States reported
information such as progress-to-date on accomplishing intended
objectives, programmatic changes, changes to staffing or management,
and budgetary information.
As implemented since 2010, the AIRS management information system
is comprised of multiple components that enable the electronic
reporting of three types of data/information from state asthma control
programs: (1) Information that is currently collected as part of
regular programmatic reporting, (2) Aggregate level reports of
surveillance data on long-term program outcomes, and (3) Specific data
indicative of progress made on partnerships, surveillance,
interventions, and evaluation.
Regular reporting of this information remains a requirement of the
current cooperative agreement mechanism utilized to fund state asthma
control programs. States are asked to submit interim and year-end
progress report information into AIRS, thus this type of
[[Page 24423]]
programmatic information on activities and objectives will continue to
be collected twice per year.
The National Asthma Control Program at CDC has access to and
analyzes national-level asthma surveillance data (http://www.cdc.gov/asthma/asthmadata.htm). With the exception of data from the Behavioral
Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), state level analyses cannot be
performed. Therefore, as part of AIRS, state asthma control programs
submit aggregate surveillance data to allow calculation of asthma
surveillance indicators across all funded states (where data are
available) in a standardized manner. Data requests through this system
regularly include: Hospital discharges (with asthma as first listed
diagnosis), and emergency department visits (with asthma as first
listed diagnosis). Under AIRS, participating states annually submit
this information to the AIRS system in conjunction with an end-of-year
report describing state activities that meet project objectives
described above.
National and state asthma surveillance data provide information
useful to examine progress on long-term outcomes of state asthma
programs. To identify appropriate indicators of program implementation
and short-term outcomes for AIRS, CDC previously convened and
facilitated workgroups comprised of state asthma control program
representatives to generated specific questions to collect data on key
features of state asthma control programs: Partnerships, surveillance,
interventions, and evaluation.
With technical assistance provided by NCEH staff, AIRS has provided
states with uniform data reporting methods and linkages to other
states' asthma programs and data. Thus, AIRS has saved state resources
and staff time when they embark on asthma activities similar to those
being done elsewhere. Also, the AIRS system has been similarly helpful
in linking states together on occasions when a given state seeks to
report their results at national meetings or publish their findings and
program results in scholarly journals. For example, with CDC staff,
three state programs co-presented on a panel regarding evaluations of
their asthma partnerships at the November, 2012 American Evaluation
Association's Evaluation 2012 conference.
In addition, CDC staff have regularly made requests from AIRS to
obtain standardized summaries of state programs regarding such
activities as the number of states meeting staffing requirements,
number and timeliness of state strategic evaluation plans, topics for
individual evaluation selected by states, types and targets of
interventions, and use of asthma surveillance data in state programs.
Furthermore, access to standardized AIRS surveillance and
programmatic data allows CDC to provide timely and accurate responses
to the public and Congress regarding the NCEH asthma program (e.g., how
many states have asthma interventions targeting schools, how many
children are treated in emergency departments, etc.).
There will be no cost for respondents, other than their time, to
participate in AIRS. Based on the program's evaluation of past
performance, it was noted that the hours for the interim report should
be increased from 2 to 4 hours and those of the end of year be
decreased from 6 to 4 hours; however, total burden hours remain at 8
hours per year per respondent. The total estimated annual burden hours
are 288.
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 hrs.)
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State Health Departments........... Interim report on 36 1 4
activities and objectives.
State Health Departments........... End of year report on 36 1 4
activities, objectives and
aggregate surveillance.
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Ron A. Otten,
Director, Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of the Associate
Director for Science, Office of the Director, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2013-09756 Filed 4-24-13; 8:45 am]
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