80 FR 25296 - Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 85 (May 4, 2015)

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 proposed information collection request entitled ``Employer Perspectives of an Insurer-Sponsored Wellness Grant''. This collection is a part of an employer study to understand the impact of integrating wellness programs with traditional occupational safety and health (OSH) programs.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 85 (Monday, May 4, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25296-25298]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-10286]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-15-15ADW; Docket No. CDC-2015-0025]


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 proposed 
information collection request entitled ``Employer Perspectives of an 
Insurer-Sponsored Wellness Grant''. This collection is a part of an 
employer study to understand the impact of integrating wellness 
programs with traditional occupational safety and health (OSH) 
programs.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before July 6, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2015-
0025 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 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

    Employer Perspectives of an Insurer-Sponsored Wellness Grant--New--
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The mission of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 
Health (NIOSH) is to promote safety and health at work for all people 
through research and prevention. Under Public Law 91-596, sections 20 
and 22 (Section 20-22, Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970), 
NIOSH has the responsibility to conduct research to advance the health 
and safety of workers. In this capacity, NIOSH proposes to conduct a 
study among employers in Ohio insured by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' 
Compensation (OHBWC) to (1) assess the effectiveness and cost-benefit 
of an intervention that funds workplace wellness programs and (2) 
understand the impact of integrating wellness programs with traditional 
occupational safety and health (OSH) programs.
    Work-related injuries and illnesses are common among US workers and 
result in pain, disability, and substantial cost to workers and 
employers. A recent, comprehensive analysis of the economic burden of 
work-related injuries and illnesses estimated that in 2007 alone 
medical and indirect costs for work-related injuries and illnesses were 
$250 billion. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there were 
4,609 occupational fatalities in 2011 and approximately 2 million work-
related injuries and illnesses that involved some lost work in 2010.
    Workers' health is affected not only by workplace safety and health 
hazards, but also workers' own health behaviors. Reflecting this, two 
different, yet, complementary approaches exist in the workplace: OSH 
programs and wellness programs. Both types of programs aim to improve 
worker health and reduce costs to employers, workers' compensation (WC) 
insurers, and society. Since 2004, NIOSH has advocated an approach that 
coordinates wellness programs with OSH programs because emerging 
evidence suggests that integrating these two fields may have a 
synergistic effect on worker safety and health.
    NIOSH has established an intramural program for protecting and 
promoting Total Worker Health\TM\. The NIOSH Total Worker 
HealthTM Cross-Sector

[[Page 25297]]

Program promotes the integration of health and safety protection with 
health and wellness promotion through research, interventions, 
partnerships, and capacity building to meet the needs of the 21st 
century workforce. The proposed project addresses three priority goals 
of the NIOSH Total Worker Health\TM\ Program: (1) Investigate the 
costs/benefits associated with comprehensive, coordinated work-based 
health protection/health promotion interventions; (2) improve the 
understanding of how the work environment influences the effectiveness 
of health programs and identify opportunities for workplace 
interventions to prevent, control, recognize and manage common chronic 
conditions; and (3) conduct scientific research that more holistically 
investigates organizational and worker health and safety outcomes 
associated with emerging issues and addresses gaps in knowledge in the 
health protection/health promotion field.
    There is a need for research to demonstrate a `business case' for 
both wellness programs and integrated OSH-wellness programs and 
identify OSH organizational and management policies, programs and 
practices that effectively reduce work-related injuries, illnesses, 
disabilities and WC costs. To date small employers have been largely 
ignored in these areas and many studies have focused on the 
manufacturing industry. Real-world examples of effective interventions 
that apply to employers of all sizes and industries will ultimately 
improve workers' health and safety.
    For the current study, NIOSH and OHBWC are collaborating on a 
project to determine the effectiveness and economic return of the 
Workplace Wellness Grant Program (WWGP) and to understand the impact of 
integrating of wellness with traditional OSH programs. In early 2012 
OHBWC took steps to integrate wellness and OSH programs by launching 
the WWGP, in which an estimated 400 (currently 321) employers and 
13,000 employees will be provided a total of $4 million in funds over 
four years to implement wellness programs.
    The majority of the study aims will be accomplished through 
secondary analysis of pre- and post-intervention data being collected 
by OHBWC and shared with NIOSH. For the overall study, data for 
participating employers will include aggregate health risk appraisal 
data; aggregate biometric data; turnover data; health care utilization 
costs; information about occupational safety and health, wellness, and 
integrated occupational safety and health-wellness program elements; 
OHBWC WWGP expense records; yearly WC claims and cost data; data that 
details employer participation in other OHBWC programs; industry codes, 
and employer size. A sample of no more than 50 employers will be 
selected among grantees for 1-2 brief phone calls to confirm responses 
on an annual survey administered by OHBWC.
    In addition, NIOSH will supplement the cost data extracted from 
existing sources with information collected through in-depth, semi-
structured interviews with no more than 25, randomly selected, 
participating employers. Data gathered from these employer interviews 
are critical to compute ratios of total savings to total costs for the 
grant-supported wellness programs from the perspective of the 
participating employers.
    NIOSH will ask a series of questions that will be used to estimate 
direct and indirect costs that were not directly funded by the WWGP 
during and after the grant funding period. This will be accomplished by 
collecting as detailed information as possible about the employer's 
wellness program and occupational and safety program costs. Topics will 
include questions about: The timeline and confirmation of grant funding 
(4 questions), non-grant funds used for wellness program costs after 
receiving the first grant (5 questions), non-grant funds used for 
wellness program costs before receiving the first grant (7 questions), 
time spent on wellness program after receiving the grant (3 questions), 
time spent on wellness program before receiving the grant (7 
questions), other questions about the people planning and running the 
wellness program (2 or 4 questions), work time spent by employees for 
wellness activities (6 to 11 questions), changes to OSH plan and 
hazards after receiving the grant (8 to 13 questions), and other 
questions about their wellness program (3 to 5 questions).
    The results of these interview-supplemented case studies will be 
used to estimate the proportion by which total employer costs exceed 
the cost of the primary wellness program vendor, as well as the 
proportion of these costs attributable to establishing the program in 
the first year versus operating the program in subsequent years. These 
estimates will be applied to generate total employer costs for all of 
the WWGP recipients, with sensitivity analysis based on the observed 
variability of employer costs in the case studies.
    If the WWGP is effective at improving worker health, reducing WC 
claims and demonstrating a positive economic return, then other 
employers and insurance carriers may develop similar programs and drive 
the optimization of integrated OSH-wellness approaches. NIOSH expects 
to complete data collection in 2017.
    There are no costs to respondents other than their time.

                                                            Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                                                              Average
                                                                                             Number of       Number of      burden per     Total  burden
               Type of respondent                               Form name                   respondents    responses per   response  (in       hours
                                                                                                            respondent        hours)
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Wellness Program Coordinators..................  Employer interviews on cost of wellness              25               1               2              50
                                                  and occupational safety and health
                                                  program.
Occupational Safety and Health Specialists.....  Employer interviews on cost of wellness              25               1               2              50
                                                  and occupational safety and health
                                                  program.
The person in charge of the employer's wellness  Annual case study verification                      100               1           30/60              50
 program.                                         interview.
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    Total......................................  .......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............             150
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[[Page 25298]]

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. 2015-10286 Filed 5-1-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P