Notice2026-09433
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
May 12, 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 91 (Tuesday, May 12, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 91 (Tuesday, May 12, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25889-25891]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-09433]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[30 Day-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), which includes
fielding several surveys per year. The June 30, 2023 clearance approved
the Round 1 survey. Seven subsequent rounds 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 ninth 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
[[Page 25890]]
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
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Rapid Surveys System
(RSS) Round 9 (OMB Control No. 0920-1408) 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
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 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,
social parenting support, symptoms of depression and anxiety (PHQ-2 and
GAD-2), immunization, body mass index, nicotine use, social
determinants of health, and health care access and utilization. The
estimated total annual burden hours for the three-year approval period
remains at 28,079 burden hours. The NCHS RSS Round 9 (2026) data
collection is based on 8,000 complete surveys and 20 cognitive
interviews for a total of 2,687 hours. There are no costs to
respondents other than their time.
Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Average
Number of Number of burden per
Type of respondents Form name respondents responses per response (in
respondent hours)
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Adults 18+............................ Survey: NCHS............ 8,000 1 20/60
RSS Round 9.............
Adults 18+............................ Cognitive Interviews.... 20 1 1
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[[Page 25891]]
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. 2026-09433 Filed 5-11-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P
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