[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 212 (Friday, November 1, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65653-65654]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-26116]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-14-0955]


Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

    In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for opportunity for public comment on 
proposed data collection projects, the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects. 
To request more information on the proposed projects or to obtain a 
copy of the data collection plans and instruments, call 404-639-7570 or 
send comments to LeRoy Richardson, at 1600 Clifton Road, MS D74, 
Atlanta, GA 30333 or send an email to [email protected].
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology. Written comments should be received 
within 60 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Early Hearing Detection and Intervention--Pediatric Audiology Links 
to Service (EHDI-PALS) Survey (OMB No. 0920-0955, Expiration 02/28/
2014)--Revision--National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental 
Disabilities (NCBDDD), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The Division of Human Development and Disability, located within 
NCBDDD, promotes the health of babies, children, and adults, with a 
focus on preventing birth defects and developmental disabilities and 
optimizing the health outcomes of those with disabilities. Since the 
passage of the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Act, 97% 
of newborn infants are now screened for hearing loss prior to hospital 
discharge. However, many of these infants have not received needed 
hearing tests and follow up services after their hospital discharges. 
The 2011 national average loss to follow-up/loss to documentation rate 
is at 35%. This rate remains an area of critical concern for state EHDI 
programs and CDC-EHDI team's goal of timely diagnosis by 3 months of 
age and intervention by 6 months of age. Many states cite the lack of 
audiology resources as the main factor behind the high loss to follow 
up. To compound the problem, many pediatric audiologists may be 
proficient evaluating children age five and older but are not 
proficient with diagnosing infants or younger children because children 
age five and younger require a different skill set. No existing 
literature or database was available to help states verify and quantify 
their states' true follow up capacity until this project went live in 
2013.
    Meeting since April 2010, the EHDI-PALS workgroup has sought 
consensus on the loss to follow up/loss to documentation issue facing 
the EHDI programs. A survey based on standard of care practice was 
developed for state EHDI programs to quantify the pediatric audiology 
resource distribution within their state, particularly audiology 
facilities that are equipped to provide follow up services for children 
age five and younger. After nine months of data collection, preliminary 
data suggested that children residing in certain regions of the United 
States who were loss to follow up were due to the distance parents had 
to travel to reach a pediatric audiology facility. For example, parents 
who reside in western region of Nebraska and Iowa on average have to 
drive over 100 miles to reach a pediatric audiology facility.
    CDC is requesting an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval 
to continue collecting audiology facility information from audiologists 
or facility managers so both parents, physicians and state EHDI 
programs will have a tool to find where the pediatric audiology 
facilities are located. This survey will continue to allow CDC-EHDI 
team and state EHDI programs to compile a systematic, quantifiable 
distribution of audiology facilities and the capacity of each facility 
to provide services for children age five and younger. The data 
collected will also allow the CDC-EHDI team to analyze facility 
distribution data to improve technical assistance to State EHDI 
programs.
    Two additional questions will be added to the existing survey. The 
two questions will ask for more information from audiology facilities 
that provide services by remote telepractice technology. This 
information will be of vital interest and benefit for both parents who 
live in remote regions of the US and state EHDI programs to maximize 
resource coverage. Respondents will all be audiologists who manage a 
facility or provide audiologic care for children age five and younger. 
To minimize burden and improve convenience, the survey will continue to 
be available via a secure password protected Web site. Placing the 
survey on the internet ensures convenient, on-demand access by the 
audiologists. Financial cost is minimized because no mailing fee will 
be associated with sending or responding to this survey.
    EHDI-PALS currently has 882 facilities in the database since the 
beginning of the data collection. All 882 facilities' contacts will 
receive a brief email from University of Maine to remind them to review 
their survey answers. It is estimated that approximately 800 
audiologists will do so. It takes approximately two minutes per person 
to review the survey

[[Page 65654]]

answers. Both ASHA and AAA are members of the EHDI-PALS workgroup and 
will continue to disseminate a request through association e-
newsletters and e-announcements to all audiologists who provide 
services to children younger than five years of age to complete the 
EHDI-PALS survey. It is estimated that potentially an additional 400 
new audiologists will read through the purpose statement located on 
page one of the survey to decide whether or not to complete the survey. 
This will take one minute per person. It is estimated that 200 
audiologists will complete the survey which will average nine minutes 
per respondent. The nine minutes calculation is based on a previous 
timed pre-test with six volunteer audiologists. There are no costs to 
respondents other than their time.

                                      Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
          Respondents               Form name       respondents   responses  per   response  (in       hours
                                                                     respondent      minutes)
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Audiologists who have           Survey..........             800               1            2/60              27
 completed survey.
New Audiologists..............  Survey                       400               1            1/60               7
                                 Introduction.
New Audiologists..............  Survey..........             200               1            9/60              30
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............              64
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Leroy Richardson,
Chief, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the 
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2013-26116 Filed 10-31-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P