Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30DAY-19-99]

Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a

list of information collection requests under review by the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction

Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call

the CDC Reports Clearance Officer at (404) 639-7090. Send written

comments to CDC, Desk Officer; Human Resources and Housing Branch, New

Executive Office Building, Room 10235; Washington, DC 20503. Written

comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.

Proposed Projects

1. Application for Training for the CDC Distance Learning Program,

Laboratory Training, and Other Training--(0920-0017)--Reinstatement--

The Public Health Practice Program Office (PHPPO) is requesting an

emergency clearance to resume data collection for the training forms

associated with this clearance. We also plan on modifying/revising

segments of the application forms. PHPPO in conjunction with the Public

Health Training Network (PHTN) and the National Laboratory Training

Network (NLTN) at CDC includes the Distance Learning Program which

offers self-study, computer-based training, satellite broadcast, video

courses, instructor-led field courses, and lab courses related to

public health professionals worldwide. Employees of hospitals,

universities, medical centers, laboratories, state and federal

agencies, and state and local health departments apply for training in

an effort to learn up-to-date public health procedures. The

``Application for Training'' forms are the official applications used

for all training activities conducted by the CDC.

The Continuing Education (CE) Program, which includes CDCs

accreditation to provide Continuing Medical Education (CME), Continuing

Nurse Education (CNE) and Continuing Education Unit (CEU) for almost

all training activities, requires a unique identifying number,

preferably the respondent's Social Security Number (SSN), to positively

identify and track individuals who have been awarded CE credit. It is

often necessary to identify individuals currently enrolled in courses,

or to retrieve historical information as to when a particular

individual completed a course or several courses over a time period.

This information provides the basis for producing a requested

transcript or determining if a person is enrolled in more than one

course. The use of the SSN is the only positive way of assigning a

unique number to a unique individual for this purpose. However, the use

of the SSN is voluntary; if a student chooses not to submit a SSN, CDC

assigns a unique identifier. The reason the SSN, rather than an

arbitrary assigned number is preferred, is because students are not

likely to remember an arbitrary number. A student's participation in

the curriculum of self-study courses sometimes spans a number of years.

The SSN is necessary for eliminating duplicate enrollments; for

properly crediting students with completed course work who have similar

names or have changed addresses; for generating transcripts of previous

completed course work on a cumulative basis. Due to the volume of

enrollments, CDC Form 36.5 has been previously approved and used for

years as an optical mark scan form. Use of this form, along with the

use of the Social Security Number, greatly enhances CDC's capability to

process a much greater volume of enrollments in less time with much

greater accuracy. The total burden hours are 8,025.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of Avg. burden/

Respondents Number of responses/ response (in

respondents respondent hrs.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Application for Training--CDC 0.759A............................ 6,300 1 0.0833

Application for Laboratory Training--CDC 32.1................... 10,000 1 0.0833

Application for Distance Learning Program--CDC 36.5............. 40,000 1 10/60

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 42699]]

Nancy Cheal,

Acting Associate Director for Policy, Planning and Evaluation, Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

[FR Doc. 99-20117 Filed 8-4-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4163-18-P