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.

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 revision of the National Electronic Health Records Survey (NEHRS), formerly approved as the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) National Electronic Health Records Survey (NEHRS). This three year revision request includes an update to the currently approved questionnaire, the addition of a follow-up survey, and a survey name change deleting the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) from the title. The purpose of NEHRS is to meet the needs and demands for statistical information about EHR adoption in physician offices in the United States.

DATES:

Written comments must be received on or before November 18, 2016.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2016-0091 by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.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: omb@cdc.gov.

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

The National Electronic Health Records Survey (NEHRS) (formerly approved as the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) National Electronic Health Records Survey (NEHRS)) (OMB No. 0920-1015, Expires 04/30/2017)—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 statistics on “utilization of health care” in the United States. NEHRS was originally designed as a mail supplement to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). Questions in NEHRS have been asked in NAMCS starting in 2001.

The purpose of NEHRS is to measure progress toward goals for electronic health records (EHRs) adoption. NEHRS target universe consists of all non-Federal office-based physicians (excluding those in the specialties of anesthesiology, radiology, and pathology) who are engaged in direct patient care.

NEHRS is the principal source of data on national and state-level EHR adoption in the United States. In 2008 and 2009, the sample size was 2,000 physicians annually. Starting in 2010, the annual sample size was increased five-fold, from 2,000 physicians to 10,302 physicians. The increased sample size allows for more reliable national estimates as well as state-level estimates on EHR adoption without having to be combined with NAMCS. For these reasons, in 2012 NEHRS became an independent survey, not as a supplement under NAMCS.

NEHRS collects information on characteristics of physician practices, the capabilities of EHRs in those practices, and intent to apply for meaningful use incentive payments. These data, together with trend data, may be used to monitor the adoption of EHR as well as accessing factors associated with EHR adoption.

Users of NEHRS data include, but are not limited to, Congressional offices, Federal agencies, state and local governments, schools of public health, colleges and universities, private industry, nonprofit foundations, professional associations, clinicians, researchers, administrators, and health planners.

There is no cost to the respondents other than their time.