80 FR 53157 - 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 170 (September 2, 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 revision of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The annual National Health Interview Survey is a major source of general statistics on the health of the U.S. population.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 170 (Wednesday, September 2, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53157-53159]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-21708]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-15-0214; Docket No. CDC-2015-0076]


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

[[Page 53158]]

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 
revision of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The annual 
National Health Interview Survey is a major source of general 
statistics on the health of the U.S. population.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before November 2, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2015-
0076 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.

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

    National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), (OMB No. 0920-0214, 
expires 12/31/2017)--Revision--National Center for Health Statistics 
(NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    Section 306 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 U.S.C. 
242k), as amended, authorizes that the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services (DHHS), acting through NCHS, shall collect data on the extent 
and nature of illness and disability of the population of the United 
States. The annual National Health Interview Survey is a major source 
of general statistics on the health of the U.S. population and has been 
in the field continuously since 1957. Clearance is sought for three 
years, to collect data from 2016 to 2018. This voluntary and 
confidential household-based survey collects demographic and health-
related information from a nationally representative sample of 
noninstitutionalized, civilian persons and households throughout the 
country. Personal identification information is requested from survey 
respondents to facilitate linkage of survey data with health-related 
administrative and other records. In 2016 the NHIS will collect 
information from approximately 45,000 households, which contain about 
112,000 individuals.
    Information is collected using computer assisted personal 
interviews (CAPI). A core set of data is collected each year that 
remains largely unchanged, whereas sponsored supplements vary from year 
to year. The core set includes socio-demographic characteristics, 
health status, health care services, and health behaviors. For 2016, 
supplemental questions will be cycled in pertaining to balance, blood 
donation, chronic pain, diabetes, and vision. Supplemental topics that 
continue or are enhanced from 2015 pertain to family food security, 
heart disease and stroke, inflammatory bowel disease, hepatitis B and C 
screening, children's mental health, disability and functioning, 
smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes, and immunizations. Questions from 
2015 on cancer control, epilepsy, and occupational health have been 
removed. In addition to these core and supplemental modules, a follow-
back survey will be conducted on previous NHIS respondents to collect 
additional health related information using alternative question 
wording and data collection modes as a testbed for the intended 2018 
redesign of the NHIS questionnaire. In addition, a subsample of NHIS 
respondents may be identified to participate in a pilot test to assess 
the feasibility of integrating wearable devices into the NHIS data 
collection process. The aim is to directly track health measurements, 
to compare those measurements to the self-reported health information 
provided by respondents, and to assess the role of devices in reducing 
respondent burden.
    A new sampling strategy is being implemented in 2016 and for the 
foreseeable future. This new sampling design is necessitated by the 
prior 2006-2015 sample being exhausted, and will take into account 
demographic shifts in the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized 
population. It will also be more flexible allowing for additions and 
contractions to reflect funding availability and to meet estimation 
goals. As in previous years, the base sample will remain at 
approximately 35,000 completed household interviews annually. To 
balance the precision of national and state-based estimates, most of 
the sample (approximately 25,000 completed interviews) will be 
allocated proportionally to the state population to maximize the 
precision of national-level estimates. A smaller portion of the sample 
(approximately 10,000

[[Page 53159]]

completed interviews) will be shifted to increase sample in the 10 
least populous states, enabling state-level estimates of key variables 
to be produced for all 50 states and DC by pooling 3 years of data. 
This flexibility embedded in the new sampling plan reflects. Additional 
funding to improve state-level estimates will increase the sample by 
almost 10,000 completed interviews in midsize states bringing the total 
expected sample size in 2016 to 45,000 households.
    Whereas the sampling frame for the NHIS has traditionally used 
field listing by the Census Bureau, in order to contain costs, the new 
frame will use a commercially available address list that covers 
residential addresses within all 50 states and the District of 
Columbia. Some field listing will be undertaken to improve coverage in 
rural areas, in high density areas, and of university housing units. 
This represents a substantial reduction in the number of listings 
performed annually.
    It is anticipated that this new sampling plan will not affect 
estimates generated using NHIS data. To monitor the new design's 
performance, NHIS analysts will perform monthly checks in line with the 
ones currently performed as part of routine data review. NCHS receives 
raw data files monthly from the Census Bureau for processing and 
quality review. Each year, results from the January sample are compared 
to the previous year to determine whether the results consistent. In 
addition to comparing the unweighted and weighted frequencies, the 
input and output specifications are reviewed, and the flowcharts are 
compared to the skip instructions and universes for each question. If a 
difference is found, steps are taken to determine whether the change is 
legitimate or whether there is a factor other than the programming of 
the questionnaire such as the location or context of the question in 
the questionnaire. If a difference persists, the paradata are reviewed 
to determine whether there are changes in the mean or median time spent 
on that question, whether interviewers had a high rate of backing up to 
return to that question, and whether other questions in that battery 
were similarly affected. Persistent differences will be examined to 
determine whether there is any other interviewer effect such as results 
comparing newly hired and experienced interviewers and newly added 
primary sampling units compared to continuing primary sampling units. 
In addition, national estimates on the key set of indicators that are 
released in a quarterly report as part of the Early Release program 
will be monitored by NHIS analysts.
    In accordance with the 1995 initiative to increase the integration 
of surveys within the DHHS, respondents to the NHIS serve as the 
sampling frame for the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey conducted by 
the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The NHIS has long been 
used by government, academic, and private researchers to evaluate both 
general health and specific issues, such as smoking, diabetes, health 
care coverage, and access to health care. It is a leading source of 
data for the Congressionally-mandated ``Health US'' and related 
publications, as well as the single most important source of statistics 
to track progress toward the National Health Promotion and Disease 
Prevention Objectives, ``Healthy People 2020.''
    There is no cost to the respondents other than their time.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                          Average
                                                           Number of      Number of     burden per      Total
        Type of respondent               Form name        respondents   responses per  response (in   burden (in
                                                                         respondent       hours)        hours)
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Adult Family Member..............  Screener                    10,000               1          5/60          833
                                    Questionnaire.
Adult Family Member..............  Family Core.........        45,000               1         23/60       17,250
Sample Adult.....................  Adult Core..........        36,000               1         15/60        9,000
Adult Family Member..............  Child Core..........        14,000               1         10/60        2,333
Adult Family Member..............  Supplements.........        45,000               1         20/60       15,000
Adult Family Member..............  Followback and other        15,000               1         20/60        5,000
                                    Special Projects.
Adult Family Member..............  Reinterview Survey..         5,000               1          5/60          417
                                                        --------------------------------------------------------
    Total........................  ....................  ............  ..............  ............       49,833
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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. 2015-21708 Filed 9-1-15; 8:45 am]
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