[Federal Register: September 10, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 175)]
[Notices]               
[Page 49188-49189]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10se99-111]                         

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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).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                      No. of      Avg. burden of
                   Respondents                        No. of        responses/     response (In    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent         hrs.)         (In hrs.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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...........................................
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    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]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P