Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[INFO-99-34]

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 the CDC Reports

Clearance Officer on (404) 639-7090.

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 through the use of automated collection techniques for other

forms of information technology. Send comments to Seleda Perryman, CDC

Assistant Reports Clearance Officer, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D24,

Atlanta, GA 30333. Written comments should be received within 60 days

of this notice.

[[Page 49189]]

Proposed Project: CDC Application for Distance Learning Program,

Laboratory Training, and Other Training--Revision--The Public Health

Practice Program Office (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 CDC's

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, or 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 SSN, greatly enhances CDC's capability to process a much

greater volume of enrollments in less time with much greater accuracy.

The only cost to the respondent is the time involved to complete the

application (3-5 minutes each).

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No. of Avg. burden of

Respondents No. of responses/ response (In Total burden

respondents respondent hrs.) (In hrs.)

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Application for Training CDC--0.759A............ 6,300 1 5/60 525

Application for Laboratory Training--CDC-32.1... 10,0001 1 5/60 833

Application for Distance Learning Program--CDC 40,000 1 10/60 6,667

36.5...........................................

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Total....................................... 56,300 .............. .............. 8,025

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Dated: September 3, 1999.

Nancy Cheal,

Acting Associate Director for Policy Planning and Evaluation, Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention.

[FR Doc. 99-23507 Filed 9-9-99; 8:45 am]

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