[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 71 (Wednesday, April 13, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21878-21880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-08442]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-16-16ZX; Docket No. CDC-2016-0037]


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 efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the 
utility of government information, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or 
continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on the Environmental 
Public Health Tracking Network, an information system which collects 
data from (1) other CDC programs such as the National Center for Health 
Statistics, (2) other federal agencies such as the Environmental 
Protection Agency, (3) publically accessible systems such as the Census 
Bureau, and (4) funded and unfunded state and local health departments 
(SLHD).

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before June 13, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2016-
0037 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulation.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Leroy A. Richardson, 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 
and Docket Number. All relevant comments received will be posted 
without change to Regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided. For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to Regulations.gov.

    Please note: All public comment should be submitted through the 
Federal eRulemaking portal (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

[[Page 21879]]

the information collection plan and instruments, contact the 
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: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA) (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 OMB for approval. To 
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 
proposed data collection as described below.
    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; (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; and (e) estimates of capital or start-
up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services 
to provide information. Burden means the total time, effort, or 
financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, 
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This 
includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, 
install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of 
collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and 
maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to 
train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of 
information, to search data sources, to complete and review the 
collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the 
information.

Proposed Project

    Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (Tracking Network)--
Existing Collection in Use without an OMB Control Number--National 
Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    In September, 2000, the Pew Environmental Health Commission issued 
a report entitled ``America's Environmental Health Gap: Why the Country 
Needs a Nationwide Health Tracking Network.'' In this report, the 
Commission documented that the existing environmental health systems 
were inadequate and fragmented and recommended a ``Nationwide Health 
Tracking Network for disease and exposures.'' In response to the 
report, Congress appropriated funds in the fiscal year 2002's budget 
for the CDC to establish the National Environmental Public Health 
Tracking Network (Tracking Network).
    Continuously since 2008, and at the national level, the program 
collects data from (1) other CDC programs such as the National Center 
for Health Statistics, (2) other federal agencies such as the 
Environmental Protection Agency, (3) publically accessible systems such 
as the Census Bureau, and (4) funded and unfunded state and local 
health departments (SLHD). These data are integrated into and 
disseminated from the Tracking Network and used for analyses which can 
inform national programs, interventions, or policies; guide further 
development and activities within the Tracking Program; or advance the 
practice and science of environmental public health tracking. The 
Tracking Program also collects information from funded SLHD to monitor 
their progress related to their funding and for program evaluation. 
This information collection request is focused on data and information 
gathered by the Tracking Program from SLHD.
    Due to voluntary program efforts to continuously improve 
compliance, the CDC recently determined that the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (PRA) should apply to the Tracking Network collections. Thus, the 
CDC requests a three-year PRA clearance to collect these data.
    One part of the collection involves health, exposure, and hazard 
data from SLHD. The Tracking Network provides the United States with 
accurate and timely standardized data from existing health, exposure, 
and hazard surveillance systems and supports ongoing efforts within the 
public health and environmental sectors. The goal of the Tracking 
Network is to improve health tracking, exposure and hazard monitoring, 
and response capacity. When such data are available, the Tracking 
Program obtains data from national or public sources in order to reduce 
the burden on SLHD. When data are not available nationally or 
publically, the Tracking Program relies on funded SLHD to obtain and 
submit these data to the Tracking Network. Data from unfunded SLHD are 
accepted but not requested or solicited.
    Data submitted annually by SLHD to the Tracking Program include: 
(1) Birth defects prevalence,(2) childhood lead blood levels, if a SLHD 
does not already report such data to CDC, (3) community drinking water 
monitoring, (4) emergency department visits, (5) hospitalizations, and 
(6) radon testing. The Tracking Program receives childhood lead blood 
levels data from CDC's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program 
(under the Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Surveillance System 
[HHLPSS--OMB Control No. 0920-0931, expiration date 5/31/2018]). A 
metadata record, a file describing the original source and collection 
procedures for the data being submitted, is also submitted with each 
dataset (1 per dataset for a total of 6 metadata records per year) 
using the Tracking Program's metadata creation tool.
    Standardized extraction, formatting, and submission processes are 
developed in collaboration between CDC and SLHD for each dataset. 
Additions or modifications to these standardized datasets will also be 
developed collaboratively in order to improve the accuracy, 
completeness, efficiency, or utility of data submitted to CDC. Such 
changes will occur at most once a year. Examples of changes to data 
processes may include: (1) Addition of new variables or outcomes, (2) 
updates to case definitions, (3) modifications to temporal or spatial 
aggregation, and (4) changes in formatting for submission. As required, 
the Tracking Network will submit future additions and modifications as 
non-substantive change requests or revision information collection 
requests.
    The other part of the collection involves program monitoring 
information from funded SLHD. In addition to standard reporting 
required by CDC's Procurement and Grants Office, the Tracking Program 
also collects information from funded SLHD for the purposes of program 
evaluation and monitoring. This information includes performance 
measures collected quarterly, a communications plan collected annually, 
an earned values management report collected quarterly, an evaluation 
plan collected annually, and Web site analytics

[[Page 21880]]

collected quarterly as documents emailed to the Tracking Program.
    There are no costs for the respondents other than their time. The 
total estimated time burden is 25,320 hours. This estimate includes the 
time it takes to extract the data from the original data source(s), 
standardize and format the data to match the corresponding Tracking 
Network data form, and submit the data to the Tracking Network. In some 
cases, the data at the source are centralized and easily extracted. In 
other cases, like for radon data, the data are not. In those cases, the 
number of hours for extracting and standardizing the data is much 
greater. Four respondents have been added to the 26 SLHDs the program 
currently funds to account for the data voluntarily received from 
unfunded SLHDs and to allow for potential program growth over the next 
three years.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                            Number of     Average
                                                               Number of    responses    burden per     Total
        Type of respondent                 Form name          respondents      per        response    burden (in
                                                                            respondent   (in hrs.)      hrs.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State and local health department  Birth defects prevalence.           22            1           80        1,760
                                   Childhood lead blood                18            1           80        1,440
                                    levels.
                                   Community drinking water            30            1          120        3,600
                                    monitoring.
                                   Emergency department                26            1           80        2,080
                                    visits.
                                   Hospitalizations.........           30            1           80        2,400
                                   Radon testing............           16            1          120        1,920
                                   Metadata records.........           30            6           20        3,600
                                   Program Management Tool             26            4           20        2,080
                                    (new awardees).
                                   Public Health Action                 4            4           20          320
                                    Report (existing
                                    awardees).
                                   Communications plan......           30            1           20          600
                                   Earned value management             30            4           40        4,800
                                    report.
                                   Evaluation and                      30            1           20          600
                                    performance measurement
                                    strategy report.
                                   Website analytics........           30            4            1          120
                                                             ---------------------------------------------------
    Total........................  .........................  ...........  ...........  ...........       25,320
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Leroy A. 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. 2016-08442 Filed 4-12-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P