[Federal Register: March 17, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 50)]
[Notices]
[Page 11347-11348]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17mr09-21]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44
U.S.C. chapter 35).
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: National Immunization Survey Evaluation Study.
Form Number(s): Numerous.
OMB Control Number: None.
Type of Request: New collection.
Burden Hours: 1,445.
Number of Respondents: 2,695.
Average Hours Per Response: 32 minutes.
Needs and Uses: On behalf of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the
U.S. Census Bureau requests authorization of the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) to conduct an evaluation study of an alternative
sampling methodology for the National Immunization Survey (NIS). The
purpose of this study is to explore how collaborating with the CDC and
using the American Community Survey (ACS) as the sampling frame for
selecting eligible households could result in improvements to the NIS.
Use of the ACS as a sampling frame, which includes non-landline
households and also identifies households with age-eligible children,
would provide a more complete sampling frame for the NIS and could
substantially reduce data collection costs.
The NIS is currently a continuing, nationwide random-digit-dialing
(RDD) landline telephone survey of families with children aged 19 to 35
months, and teens aged 13-17 years, followed by a mailed survey to
children's immunization providers. Since the survey's inception to the
present, private contractors have conducted the NIS for the CDC.
National, state, and local level estimates of vaccine-specific
coverage, including newly licensed vaccines, are produced annually.
The NIS was established to provide an on going, consistent data set
for analyzing vaccination coverage among young children in the United
States and disseminating this information to state and local health
departments and other interested public health partners. One of the
goals of the 1993 Childhood Immunization Initiative was to achieve
target vaccination coverage levels for 2-year-old children. One of the
activities for meeting these goals was to improve surveillance for
vaccine coverage. As a result, funding for the NIS was provided and
data collection began in April 1994. Subsequently, national Healthy
People 2000 and 2010 objectives included targets for childhood and
adolescent vaccination rates. Currently, the NIS provides vaccination
coverage estimates annually for children aged 19-35 months and teens
aged 13-17 years, by state and at least six city/county areas. The
information collected is used to evaluate state and local immunization
programs, to develop health care policies, and to assist in the
determination of funding allocations for the Vaccines for Children
(VFC) program. Since 1994, the VFC program has helped families of
children who may not otherwise have access to vaccines by providing
free vaccines to doctors who serve them.
In recent years, the NIS has covered a decreasing portion of the
target population as more households rely solely on cell phone
telephone service. Based on data from January-June 2008 from the
National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), 29 percent of children under
three years of age lived in households without landline services. Among
households with both landline and cell phone service, some may
primarily use their cell phones and be less likely to respond to calls
to their landlines. As part of the CDC's continuing effort to evaluate
and refine the NIS, this study is intended to explore how sampling from
the ACS for households with age-eligible children having landline, cell
phone only, and no telephone service could result in improvements to
the survey, particularly in terms of coverage, response, and cost, and
whether the ACS and supplemental administrative files can be used to
identify a sufficient sample of children for national, state and local
level assessment.
The NIS is the largest survey ever conducted to assess vaccination
coverage of young children and adolescents in the U.S. and is used to
measure and assess changes in vaccination coverage levels over time.
Also, the NIS helps track progress towards public health immunization
goals. The purpose of this evaluation study is to determine if using
the ACS as the frame from which to select the NIS sample will result in
improvements to the survey, in terms of providing a more complete
sampling frame, increasing response rates, and decreasing data
collection costs. The evaluation study will be kept as closely as
possible to the current NIS to allow comparisons, but plans are to
incorporate innovations that could be implemented eventually as part of
a full production survey. With the overall goal of improving response
rates and coverage, possible experiments could include offering
incentives to all sampled households or using different versions of the
advance letter or screener to encourage participation.
The NIS is an important tool for measuring vaccination coverage
levels for the nation; however, there are limitations and challenges
that the current NIS faces. The NIS evaluation study provides the CDC
with the opportunity to explore some possible changes to the survey
methodology in an attempt to assess new options and refine current
methods. One major design change is in the sample selection. The
current NIS sample is selected by landline RDD, whereas the sample for
the NIS Evaluation Study is a targeted sample of age-eligible
respondents drawn from the ACS sample. Using the ACS as the NIS
sampling frame provides a rich source of data for non-respondents and
allows for more powerful weighting adjustments. Furthermore, the NIS
RDD sample is limited to households with landline telephone service.
However, the Evaluation Study sample will not only include households
with landline service but also non-landline households (wireless
service only) and households with no phone service. The information
collected from the latter two groups will assist the CDC in
[[Page 11348]]
assessing the potential bias in the current NIS estimates from the
exclusion of these households. However, the success of the evaluation
is contingent on the Census Bureau's ability to draw sufficient sample
from the ACS for state and local area estimates.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; businesses or other
for-profit.
Frequency: One time.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Section 8 and the
Public Health Service Act, Title 42, United States Code, Sections 306 &
2102(a)(7).
OMB Desk Officer: Brian Harris-Kojetin, (202) 395-7314.
Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained
by calling or writing Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance
Officer, (202) 482-0266, Department of Commerce, Room 7845, 14th and
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at
dhynek@doc.gov).
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice
to Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB Desk Officer either by fax (202-395-7245)
or email (bharrisk@omb.eop.gov).
Dated: March 11, 2009.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. E9-5657 Filed 3-16-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P