[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 130 (Thursday, July 8, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39259-39261]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-16604]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[60Day-10-0636]
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 404-639-5960
and send comments to Maryam I. Daneshvar, CDC Acting Reports Clearance
Officer, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta,
[[Page 39260]]
GA 30333 or send an e-mail 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 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
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Secure
Communications Network (Epi-X) (OMB No. 0929-0636 exp. 12/31/2010)--
Revision--Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR),
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Background and Brief Description
The classification of this Information Collection (IC) is a
revision of the State-Based Evaluation of the Alert Notification
Component of CDC's Secure Communication Network (Epi-X) OMB Control No.
0920-0636.
This IC is being revised to improve the effectiveness of CDC
communications with its public health partners during public health
incident responses. These partners include public health officials and
agencies at the State and local level.
From 2005-2009, CDC conducted incident specific, public health
emergency response operations on average of four public health
incidents a year with an average emergency response length of 48 days
for each incident. The effectiveness and efficiency of CDC's response
to any public health incident depends on information at the agency's
disposal to characterize and monitor the incident, make timely
decisions, and take appropriate actions to prevent or reduce the impact
of the incident.
Available information during many public health incident responses
is often incomplete, is not easily validated by State and local health
authorities, and is sometimes conflicting. This lack of reliable
information often creates a high level of uncertainty with potential
negative impacts on public health response operations.
Secure communications with CDC's State and local public health
partners is essential to de-conflict information, validate incident
status, and establish and maintain accurate situation awareness.
Reliable, secure communications are essential for the agency to make
informed decisions, and to respond in the most appropriate manner
possible in order to minimize the impact of an incident on the public
health of the United States.
Epi-X is CDC's Web-based communication system for securely
communicating during public health emergencies that have multi-
jurisdictional impact and implications. Epi-X was specifically designed
to provide public health decision-makers at the State and local levels
a secure, reliable tool for communicating information about sensitive,
unusual, or urgent public health incidents to neighboring jurisdictions
as well as to CDC. The system was also designed to generate a request
for epidemiologic assistance (Epi-Aid) from CDC using a secure,
paperless environment.
Epi-X designers have developed functionalities that permit
targeting of critical outbreak information to specific public health
authorities who can act quickly to prevent the spread of diseases and
other emergencies in multi-jurisdictional settings, such as those that
could occur during an influenza pandemic, infection of food and water
resources, and natural disasters.
CDC has recognized a need to expand the use of Epi-X to collect
specific response related information during public health emergencies.
Authorized Officials from State and local health departments impacted
by the public health incident will be surveyed only by Epi-X.
Respondents will be informed of this data collection first through an
Epi-X Facilitator, who will work closely with Epi-X program staff to
ensure that Epi-X incident specific IC is understood. The survey
instruments will contain specific questions relevant to the current and
ongoing public health incident and response activities.
The Web-based tool for data collection under Epi-X already is
established for the current IC and has been in use since 2003. CDC will
adapt it as needed to accommodate the data collection instruments.
Respondents will receive the survey instrument as an official CDC e-
mail, which is clearly labeled, ``Epi-X Emergency Public Health
Incident Information Request'' The e-mail message will be accompanied
by a link to an Epi-X Forum discussion Web page. Respondents can
provide their answers to the survey questions by posting information
within the discussion.
There are no costs to respondents except their time.
Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Number of Average burden
Type of respondent Number of responses per per response Total burden
respondents respondent (in hours) hours
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State Epidemiologists................... 50 100 1 5,000
City and County Health Officials........ 1,600 12 1 19,200
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Total............................... ................ ................ ................ 24,200
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[[Page 39261]]
Dated: June 30, 2010.
Maryam I. Daneshvar,
Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2010-16604 Filed 7-7-10; 8:45 am]
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