[Federal Register: August 20, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 160)]
[Notices]
[Page 42075-42076]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20au09-37]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
[Document Identifier: OS-0990-New]
Agency Emergency Information Collection Clearance Request for
Public Comment
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.
In compliance with the requirement of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of the Secretary (OS),
Department of Health and Human Services, is publishing the following
summary of a proposed information collection request for public
comment. Interested persons are invited to send comments regarding this
burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information,
including any of the following subjects: (1) The necessity and utility
of the proposed information collection for the proper performance of
the agency's functions; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and (4) the use of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology to minimize the information
collection burden. To obtain copies of the supporting statement and any
related forms for the proposed paperwork collections referenced above,
e-mail your request, including your address, phone number, OMB number,
and OS document identifier, to Sherette.funncoleman@hhs.gov, or call
the Reports Clearance Office on (202) 690-6162. Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed information collections must be
directed to the OS Paperwork Clearance Officer at the above e-mail
address within 7-days.
Proposed Project: HAvBED Assessment for 2009-H1N1 Influenza Serious
Illness, OMB No. 0990-NEW-HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for
Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Office of Preparedness and Emergency
Operations (OPEO).
Abstract: The Office of the Secretary (OS) is requesting emergency
action for this clearance by the Office of Management and Budget no
later than August 28, 2009. ASPR is requesting emergency processing
procedures for this application because this information is needed
immediately to help reduce morbidity and mortality from 2009-H1N1 by
providing decision makers with timely, usable information regarding the
status of the health care system. The urgent timeline is supported by
the fact that Americans are already becoming ill and even dying due to
2009-H1N1 infection, and that numerous countries in the Southern
Hemisphere (who are currently experiencing their traditional influenza
season) have had a large surge in seriously ill patients. The Southern
Hemisphere experience is leading to valid anticipation of many
additional seriously ill patients in the US over the upcoming months.
During the spring and summer novel H1N1 response in the US, we did not
have an adequate understanding of disease severity, health care system
resource needs such as ventilators and ICU beds, and did not learn from
our collective experiences caring for these seriously ill patients. If
we do not develop a national data collection mechanism for seriously
ill people infected with H1N1 then we cannot adequately support
hospitals to care for these patients.
Pursuant to section 2811 of the PHS Act, the ASPR serves as the
principal advisor to the Secretary on all matters related to Federal
public health and medical preparedness and response for public health
emergencies. In addition to other tasks, the ASPR coordinates with
State, local, and tribal public health officials and healthcare systems
to ensure effective integration of Federal public health and medical
assets during an emergency. ASPR's National Hospital Preparedness
Program (HPP) awards cooperative agreements to each of the 50 states,
the Pacific Islands, and US territories (for a total of 62 awardees) to
improve surge capacity and enhance community and hospital preparedness
for public health emergencies. These 62 awardees are responsible for
enhancing the preparedness of the nation's nearly 6000 hospitals. These
awards are authorized under section 391C-2 of the Public Health Service
(PHS) Act. For this data collection the 62 HPP awardees will gather
data from the 6000 hospitals using a Web-based interface known as
HAvBED. The data gathered from the hospitals will be reported to the
HHS Secretary's Operations Center weekly for 6 months. If the
seriousness of the stress on the hospitals increases daily reporting
may be requested.
Depending on the nature of the existing systems at the hospitals,
the data may be obtained manually or readily available electronically
through existing systems. States would have their own procedures for
training staff on how to use their existing systems, so there would not
be an additional training burden for learning those systems. For manual
data collection using the HAvBED system personnel would need to be
trained. The system is easy to use and intuitive. The user guide
provides information to help people quickly understand how to use the
system. See Attachment 2 for a copy of the user guide. Based on the
experience of the system administrator in working with users, training
time to learn the HAvBED data entry procedures is no more than one
hour. On average it takes 40 minutes of explanation and 20 minutes of
hands on practice with the training site.
The actual data collection time for the hospitals is approximately
1 hour and the states will spend approximately 3 hours compiling the
information from all of the hospitals in their State/territory. For
automated systems the time would be less. These estimates are based on
a pilot test of the system. This cost model assumes daily data
collection over 3 months and weekly for 3 months.
6 Months Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Number of Average burden
Type of respondent Number of responses/ hours per Total burden
respondents respondent response hours
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Hospital staff (Training)....................... 6000 1 1 6000
[[Page 42076]]
Hospital staff (data collection)................ 6000 96 1 576,000
State/Territory Preparedness staff (training)... 62 1 1 62
State/Territory Preparedness staff (data 62 288 3 53,568
collection)....................................
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Total....................................... .............. 386 .............. 635,630
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The burden was determined by asking the States that participated in
a pilot study to report who collected the data and how long it took
them to gather the information.
Terry Nicolosi,
Paperwork Reduction Act Reports Clearance Officer, Office of the
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E9-20073 Filed 8-19-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-37-P