Notice2026-00997
Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review
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
January 20, 2026
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 12 (Tuesday, January 20, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 20, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2357-2358]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-00997]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[30Day-26-1408]
Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) received approval from the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct the National Center
for Health Statistics (NCHS) Rapid Surveys System (RSS) [OMB 0920-
1408], which includes fielding several surveys per year. The 06/30/2023
clearance approved the Round 1 survey. A second, third, fourth, fifth,
sixth, and seventh round of the RSS were additionally approved. In
accordance with the Terms of Clearance, NCHS will publish a 30-day
Federal Register Notice announcing each new survey so that public
comments can be received about the specific content of each survey.
This notice includes specific details about the questions that would be
asked in the eighth round of the RSS and serves to allow 30 days for
public and affected agency comments, consistent with OMB's terms of
clearance.
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 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
Rapid Surveys System (RSS) Round 8 (OMB Control No. 0920-1408, Exp.
6/30/2026) 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.), as
amended, authorizes that the Secretary of Health and Human Services
(HHS), acting through NCHS, collect data about the health of the
population of the United States. The RSS (OMB control No. 0920-1408)
collects data on emerging public health topics, attitudes, and
behaviors using cross-sectional samples from two commercially
available, national probability-based online panels. The RSS then
combines these data to form estimates that approximate national
representation in ways that many data collection approaches cannot. The
RSS collects data in contexts in which decision makers' need for time-
sensitive data of known quality about emerging and priority health
concerns is a higher priority than their need for statistically
unbiased estimates.
The RSS complements NCHS's current household survey systems. As
quicker turnaround surveys that require less accuracy and precision
than CDC's more rigorous population representative surveys, the RSS
incorporates multiple mechanisms to carefully evaluate the resulting
survey data for their appropriateness for use in public health
surveillance and research (e.g., hypothesis generating) and facilitate
[[Page 2358]]
continuous quality improvement by supplementing these panels with
intensive efforts to understand how well the estimates reflect
populations at most risk. The RSS data dissemination strategy
communicates the strengths and limitations of data collected through
online probability panels as compared to more robust data collection
methods.
The RSS has three major goals: (1) to provide CDC and other
partners with time-sensitive data of known quality about emerging and
priority health concerns; (2) to use these data collections to continue
NCHS's evaluation of the quality of public health estimates generated
from commercial online panels; and (3) to improve methods to
communicate the appropriateness of public health estimates generated
from commercial online panels. The RSS is designed to have several
rounds of data collection each year with data being collected by two
contractors with probability panels. A cross-sectional nationally
representative sample will be drawn from the online probability panel
maintained by each of the contractors. As part of the base (minimum
sample size), each round of data collection will collect 2,000
responses per quarter. The RSS can be expanded by increasing the number
of completed responses per round or the number of rounds per year as
needed up to a maximum of 28,000 responses per year per contractor or
56,000 total responses per year. Additionally, each data collection may
include up to 2,000 additional responses per quarter (8,000 for the
year) to improve representativeness. This increases the maximum burden
by up to 16,000 responses per year. The RSS may also target individual
surveys to collect data only from specific subgroups within existing
survey panels and may supplement data collection for such groups with
additional respondents from other probability or nonprobability
samples. An additional 12,000 responses per year may be used for these
developmental activities.
Each Round's questionnaire will consist of four main components:
(1) basic demographic information on respondents to be used as
covariates in analyses; (2) new, emerging, or supplemental content
proposed by NCHS, other CDC Centers, Institute, and Offices, and other
HHS agencies; (3) questions used for calibrating the survey weights;
and (4) additional content selected by NCHS to evaluate against
relevant benchmarks. NCHS will use questions from Components 1 and 2 to
provide relevant, timely data on new, emerging, and priority health
topics to be used for decision making. NCHS will use questions from
Components 3 and 4 to weight and evaluate the quality of the estimates
coming from questions in Components 1 and 2. NCHS submits a 30-day
Federal Register Notice with information on the contents of each round
of data collection.
NCHS calibrates survey weights from the RSS to gold standard
surveys. Questions used for calibration in this round of RSS will
include social and work limitation, health information technology use,
telephone use, language used at home and in other settings, and civic
engagement. All of these questions have been on the National Health
Interview Survey (NHIS) in prior years allowing calibration to these
data.
Finally, all RSS rounds will include several questions that were
previously on NHIS or other suitable federal surveys for benchmarking
to evaluate data quality. Panelists in the RSS will be asked about
health status, chronic conditions, disability, whole person health,
social support and loneliness, social connectivity and isolation,
depressive symptoms (PHQ-8), social determinants of health, and health
care access and utilization.
Round 8 will include content on artificial intelligence and help
seeking behaviors, and selected content from the National Survey on
Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) including substance use prevalence, risk
perception of certain substance use, recovery from drug and alcohol use
and mental health problems, and suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts.
The estimated total annual burden hours for the three-year approval
period remains at 28,079 burden hours. The NCHS RSS Round 8 (2026) data
collection is based on 6,000 complete surveys (2020 hours). There are
no costs to respondents other than their 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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Adults 18+............................ Survey: NCHS RSS Round 8 6,000 1 20/60
Adults 18+............................ Cognitive Interviews.... 20 1 1
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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. 2026-00997 Filed 1-16-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P
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