Notice2025-10620

Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

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Published
June 11, 2025

Issuing agencies

Health and Human Services DepartmentCenters for Disease Control and Prevention

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 111 (Wednesday, June 11, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 111 (Wednesday, June 11, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24613-24615]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-10620]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-25-0573]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has submitted the information 
collection request titled ``National HIV Surveillance System (NHSS)'' 
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. 
CDC previously published a ``Proposed Data Collection Submitted for 
Public Comment and Recommendations'' notice on April 1, 2022 to obtain 
comments from the public and affected agencies. CDC received two 
comments related to the previous notice. No changes were made to the 
information collection plan. This notice serves to allow an additional 
30 days for public and affected agency comments.
    CDC will accept all comments for this proposed information 
collection project. The Office of Management and Budget is particularly 
interested in comments that:
    (a) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
    (b) Evaluate the accuracy of the agencies estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected;
    (d) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including, through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting 
electronic submission of responses; and
    (e) Assess information collection costs.
    To request additional information on the proposed project or to 
obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, call 
(404) 639-7570. Comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function. Direct 
written

[[Page 24614]]

comments and/or suggestions regarding the items contained in this 
notice to the Attention: CDC Desk Officer, Office of Management and 
Budget, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 
395-5806. Provide written comments within 30 days of notice 
publication.

Proposed Project

    National HIV Surveillance System (NHSS) (OMB Control No 0920-0573, 
Exp, 02/28/2026)--Revision--National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, 
STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    Collected with authorization under Sections 304 and 306 of the 
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242b and 242k), the National HIV 
Surveillance System (NHSS) data are the primary data used to monitor 
the extent and characteristics of the HIV burden in the United States. 
HIV surveillance data are used to describe trends in HIV incidence, 
prevalence and characteristics of infected persons and used widely at 
the federal, state, and local levels for planning and evaluating 
prevention programs and healthcare services, to allocate funding for 
prevention and care, and to monitor progress toward achieving national 
prevention goals of the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S initiative.
    The Division of HIV Prevention (DHP), National Center for HIV, 
Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), CDC, in 
collaboration with health departments in the states, the District of 
Columbia, and U.S. dependent areas, conducts national surveillance for 
cases of HIV infection that includes critical data reported across the 
spectrum of HIV disease stages from HIV diagnosis to death. NHSS data 
collection activities are currently supported through cooperative 
agreements with health departments under CDC Notice of Funding 
Opportunity PS24-0047: High-Impact HIV Prevention and Surveillance 
Programs for Health Departments CDC-RFA-PS-24-0047 and Accelerating the 
Prevention and Control of HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STDs, and TB in the 
U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands CDC-RFA-PS23-2302.
    The systematic data collection in NHSS provides the essential data 
used to calculate population-based HIV incidence estimates, describe 
the geographic distribution of disease, monitor HIV transmission and 
drug resistance patterns and genetic diversity of HIV among infected 
persons, detect and respond to HIV clusters of recent and rapid 
transmission, and monitor perinatal exposures. NHSS data are also used 
locally to identify persons with HIV who are not in medical care and 
linking them to care and needed services. Describing geographic 
distribution allows CDC to assess social determinants of health in the 
context of HIV which allows identification health inequities, and 
guides steps to address and monitor the health equity over time moving 
forward. NHSS data continue to be collected, maintained, and reported 
using standard case definitions, report forms and software. The system 
is periodically updated to keep pace with changes in testing technology 
and advances in HIV care and treatment, as well as changing prevention 
program monitoring, evaluation and response needs.
    The changes requested in this Revision include program-initiated 
modifications to currently collected data elements and forms including 
changes to the Initial, Follow-up, and Annual/Closeout Cluster Report 
Forms (CRFs). Changes are being made to better address the current 
challenges and implementation of cluster response. There is no change 
to the purpose, use, or methods of data collection, as outlined in the 
previously submitted Supporting Statement Parts A and B. These 
modifications of questions will add depth and result in more accurate 
and complete responses. Revisions were made to simplify data collection 
and entry for health departments, to collect more relevant data that 
would help health departments track progress in responding to HIV 
clusters, and to help health departments better communicate their 
progress and challenges to CDC so that CDC can provide more effective 
technical assistance and other support for responding to clusters and 
outbreaks.
    Revisions were guided by discussions with health departments. In 
2024, CDC hosted three webinars about changes to the forms that were 
open to all health departments expected to submit CRFs. CDC also sent 
draft revised CRFs to health departments to solicit written feedback on 
the changes. CRFs were streamlined by removing data elements felt by 
health departments to be particularly difficult to populate, or which 
were no longer needed. Some were replaced with data elements that will 
capture the information more accurately and in a way that providers 
health departments more flexibility about which data elements to 
report, depending on the context of the cluster. Some questions and 
instructions within the form were modified to improve the quality of 
data collected, based on experience and data gathered since the last 
ICR submission.
    This Revision also standardizes questions across the three CRFs 
(initial, follow-up, and annual/closeout) to make it a more consistent 
experience for health departments to complete the forms. The Revision 
removes a rigid set of outcome questions related to three specific 
activities (testing partners of cluster members for HIV, linking 
cluster members to treatment, and referring partners of cluster members 
to pre- or post-exposure prophylaxis) that were included in the initial 
and annual/closeout CRFs and instead substitutes more open-ended 
outcome questions representing the full range of potential response 
activities in just the annual/closeout CRFs. This Revision will allow 
health departments more flexibility in reporting outcomes for the 
activities that they felt were most important to implement in the 
cluster response.
    The number of questions answered varies due to skip patterns and 
optional questions that health departments may elect to answer or skip, 
and has been reduced in each of the three CRFs, as shown below.

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                                                                                     Currently       Proposed
                     Form                                                            approved        revision
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Initial.......................................  Total questions.................              57              32
                                                Required questions..............           21-43           13-25
Follow-up.....................................  Total questions.................              25              20
                                                Required questions..............              20            4-17
Annual/Closeout...............................  Total questions.................           39-42              39
                                                Required questions..............              28           21-32
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[[Page 24615]]

    Cluster report forms will be captured via REDCap, a secure web 
application for building and managing online surveys and databases. 
REDCap allows for auto-population of several fields and reduces burden 
on health departments, who previously needed to encrypt and upload 
Excel files.
    There will be no increase or decrease in the number of respondents 
for the CRFs. The overall number of required questions will be reduced 
though the overall burden will remain the same, as additional detail 
will be asked in some of the remaining questions. OMB approval is 
requested for three years. The total estimated annualized burden is 
60,731 hours for NHSS, including the CRFs. There are no costs to the 
respondents other than time.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                     Number of    Average burden
          Type of respondents                   Form name            Number of     responses per   per response
                                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)
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Health Departments....................  Adult HIV Case Report                 59             789           20/60
                                         (ACRF).
Health Departments....................  Perinatal Exposure and                59              57           35/60
                                         Pediatric HIV Case
                                         Report (PCRF).
Health Departments....................  Case Report Evaluations.              59              85           20/60
Health Departments....................  Case Report Updates.....              59            2519            2/60
Health Departments....................  Laboratory Updates......              59          10,130          0.5/60
Health Departments....................  Deduplication Activities              59           3,032           10/60
Health Departments....................  Investigation Reporting               59             929            1/60
                                         and Evaluation.
Health Departments....................  Initial Cluster Report                59             2.5               1
                                         Form.
Health Departments....................  Follow-Up Cluster Report              59               5             0.5
                                         Form.
Health Departments....................  Annual/Closeout Cluster               59             2.5               1
                                         Report Form.
Health Departments....................  Annual Reporting                      59               1               8
                                         Standards Evaluation
                                         Report (SER).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Public Health 
Ethics and Regulations, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2025-10620 Filed 6-10-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P


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