Notice2025-22009
Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 5, 2025
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
Abstract
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project titled STI Surveillance Network (SSuN). This information collection request is designed to strengthen national and local surveillance capacity for incident, new, and emerging sexually transmitted infections (STIs) by collecting information on patients at risk for STIs and providing more accurate estimates of the burden of disease, incidence of STIs, trends and impact of STIs at the population level.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 232 (Friday, December 5, 2025)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 232 (Friday, December 5, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56152-56153]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-22009]
[[Page 56152]]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[60Day-26-1072; Docket No. CDC-2025-0752]
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 effort to reduce public burden and maximize the
utility of government information, invites the general public and other
Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a continuing information
collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This
notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project
titled STI Surveillance Network (SSuN). This information collection
request is designed to strengthen national and local surveillance
capacity for incident, new, and emerging sexually transmitted
infections (STIs) by collecting information on patients at risk for
STIs and providing more accurate estimates of the burden of disease,
incidence of STIs, trends and impact of STIs at the population level.
DATES: CDC must receive written comments on or before February 3, 2026.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2025-
0752 by either of the following methods:
[ssquf] Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
[ssquf] Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road
NE, MS H21-8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments
to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>.
Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking
portal (<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>) or by U.S. mail to the address listed
above.
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 Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection
Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton
Road NE MS H21-8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; Telephone: 404-639-7570;
Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#214e4c43614245420f464e57"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7d12101f3d1e191e531a120b">[email protected]</span></a>.
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 the OMB for approval. To
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a
proposed data collection as described below.
The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:
1. 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;
2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected;
4. 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
submissions of responses; and
5. Assess information collection costs.
Proposed Project
The STI Surveillance Network (SSuN), (OMB Control No. 0920-1072,
Exp. 09/30/2026)--Revision--National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis,
STD, TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
Background and Brief Description
The CDC is requesting a Revision of a currently approved
information collection request (ICR) titled The STI Surveillance
Network (SSuN) for a period of three years. The Revision submitted for
this ICR reflects changes to the title of the currently approved ICR,
inclusion of Doxycycline Post-exposure Prophylaxis (Doxy PEP) data
elements, deletion of multiple data elements no longer required, and an
updated anonymous patient clinic survey.
The purpose of the STI Surveillance Network (SSuN) is to enhance
national capacity for STI surveillance. While U.S. jurisdictions
voluntarily report STI cases to the CDC via the National Notifiable
Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS), these reports often lack
essential patient demographics and detailed information on risk
behaviors, treatment, co-infections, preventive services, and sexual
networks.
SSuN enhances CDC's STI surveillance efforts by:
1. Providing comprehensive behavioral and demographic data on STI
cases not available from standard case-based surveillance.
2. Monitoring trends in STI and HIV co-infection, screening,
prevention interventions, and healthcare access among patients with
gonorrhea or other STIs.
3. Providing an additional sentinel monitoring system for emerging
health threats like mpox.
These data help public health authorities better understand STI
trends, assess disease burden inequalities, and monitor treatment
outcomes and adverse health effects among STI patients.
Data will be transmitted through CDC's Secure Access Management
System (SAMS) by the 15 state and local health jurisdictions (eight
jurisdictions funded for both Strategy A and B, four Strategy A only
jurisdictions, and three Strategy B only jurisdictions) funded to
conduct SSuN activities.
The revised project, SSuN Cycle 5 (2024-2029), comprises 15 US
local/state health departments. SSuN recipients are funded to conduct
either or both of the two core SSuN Strategies: Sentinel surveillance
in specialty sexual health clinics (Strategy A) and Enhanced
population-based surveillance for persons diagnosed with gonorrhea and
adult syphilis (Strategy B). In Strategy A, data is abstracted from
existing electronic medical records at 16 participating STI clinics
across 12 funded jurisdictions, utilizing information already collected
during routine clinical care. This reflects a total of 384 burden
hours. These data are sent to the 12 funded health jurisdictions, where
they are formatted and deduplicated by data managers into standardized
formats. Records are also matched with the jurisdiction's HIV
surveillance registry, providing data on HIV co-infection not available
from
[[Page 56153]]
other multi-jurisdictional sources. All patient records are fully de-
identified and securely transmitted to the CDC six times a year. Data
managers at each of the 16 clinical facilities across 12 jurisdictions
receiving funding are responsible for transmitting validated datasets
for these activities to CDC every other month. This reflects 2,880
burden hours for Strategy A Health Department data management.
Participating Strategy A clinics are also required to administer a one-
time clinic patient survey between years 2-5 of the cycle. Clinic
patient surveys will be conducted with approximately 3,000 patients
across all funded sites for a total of five minutes each, resulting in
250 burden hours.
The second core data collection activity, Strategy B, includes: (1)
abstraction, recoding, and reporting of all gonorrhea and syphilis
cases in the collaborating jurisdiction; (2) enhanced investigations of
a random sample of diagnosed individuals; and (3) Health Department
abstraction and registry matching for a complete census of reported
cases. Enhanced investigations include clinical data abstraction from
providers, registry matching, and brief demographic and behavioral
interviews. SSuN recipients implement data collection protocols that
provide uniformly coded data on demographics, risk factors, clinical
care, laboratory data, and healthcare-seeking behaviors, which are
compiled into a national dataset after quality assurance at the CDC.
For Activity 1, data managers at participating health jurisdictions are
responsible for transmitting validated datasets case datasets to CDC
every other month, resulting in 2,640 burden hours. In 2023, there were
187,833 cases of gonorrhea diagnosed and reported across the 11
Strategy B SSuN jurisdictions. Approximately 7%, or 13,148 gonorrhea
cases were randomly sampled for enhanced investigation. Over past
cycles, approximately 50% of patients contacted for investigations
responded; we estimate this will result in 1,083 burden hours for
patients with gonorrhea.
The estimated burden hours for this revised collection decreases
from the previously approved 7,510 to 7,237 due to decreases in the
number of participating clinical sites and expected number of
interviews conducted by funded jurisdictions, a result of declines in
reported gonorrhea cases. CDC requests OMB approval for an estimated
7,237 annual burden hours. There are no additional costs to respondents
other than their time to participate.
Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of
Type of respondent Form name Number of responses per Average hours Total response
respondents respondent per response burden (hours)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Data managers at sentinel STI clinics....... Electronic Clinical Record 16 6 4 384
Abstraction.
General Public--Adults (persons diagnosed Patient interviews for a random 6,500 1 10/60 1,083
with gonorrhea). sample of gonorrhea cases.
Data Managers: local/state health Data cleaning/validation, HIV 12 6 40 2,880
departments (strategy A). registry matching and data
transmissions for all activity
components.
Data Managers: local/state health Data cleaning/validation, HIV 11 6 40 2,640
departments (strategy B). registry matching and data
transmissions for all activity
components.
General Public--Adults (persons presenting Clinic patient surveys.............. 3,000 1 5/60 250
for care in STI Clinics).
-----------------------------------------------------
Total................................... .................................... .............. ................ ................ 7,237
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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. 2025-22009 Filed 12-4-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 5, 2025.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.