[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 3 (Wednesday, January 5, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 487-488]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-131]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control And Prevention
[INFO-00-17]


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, the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) is providing opportunity for public comment on 
proposed data collection 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 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 with 60 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey--(0920-0234)--Revision--
(NCHS)--The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) was 
conducted annually from 1973 to 1981, again in 1985, and resumed as an 
annual survey in 1989. It is directed by the Division of Health Care 
Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC. The purpose of 
NAMCS is to meet the needs and demands for statistical information 
about the provision of ambulatory medical care services in the United 
States. Ambulatory services are rendered in a wide variety of settings, 
including physicians' offices and hospital outpatient and emergency 
departments. The NAMCS target population consists of all office visits 
within the United States made by ambulatory patients to non-Federal, 
office-based physicians (excluding those in the specialties of 
anesthesiology, radiology, and pathology) who are engaged in direct 
patient care. Since more than 80 percent of all direct ambulatory 
medical care visits occur in physicians' offices, the NAMCS provides 
data on the majority of ambulatory medical care services. To complement 
these data, in 1992 NCHS initiated the National Hospital Ambulatory 
Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS, OMB No. 0920-0278) to provide data 
concerning patient visits to hospital outpatient and emergency 
departments. The NAMCS, together with the NHAMCS, constitute the 
ambulatory component of the National Health Care Survey (NHCS) and will 
provide coverage of more than 90 percent of ambulatory medical care.
    The NAMCS provides a range of baseline data on the characteristics 
of the users and providers of ambulatory medical care. Data collected 
include the patients' demographic characteristics and reason(s) for 
visit, and the physicians' diagnosis(es) and diagnostic services, 
medications and disposition. These data, together with trend data, may 
be used to monitor the effects of change in the health care system, 
provide new insights into ambulatory medical care, and stimulate 
further research on the use, organization, and delivery of ambulatory 
care.
    Users of NAMCS data include, but are not limited to, congressional 
and other federal government agencies such as NIH and FDA, state and 
local governments, medical schools, schools of public health, colleges 
and universities, private businesses, nonprofit foundations and 
corporations, professional associations, as well as individual 
practitioners, researchers, administrators and health planners. Uses 
vary from the inclusion of a few selected statistics in a large 
research effort, to an in-depth analysis of the entire NAMCS data set 
covering several years.
    To calculate the burden hours, the number of respondents for NAMCS 
is based on a sample of 6,000 physicians with a 50 percent 
participation rate (this includes physicians who are out-of-scope as 
well as those who refuse). The total cost to respondents is estimated 
to be $300,000.

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                                                     Number of       Number of     Avg. burden/
                                                    respondents     responses/     response  (in     Response
                                                   (physicians)     respondent         hrs.)      burden  (hrs.)
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Office-based physicians induction form..........           3,000               1             .42           1,260
Patient record form.............................           3,000              30             .05           4,500
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           5,760
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[[Page 488]]

    Dated: December 29, 1999.
Kathy Cahill,
Associate Director for Policy, Planning, and Evaluation, Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
[FR Doc. 00-131 Filed 1-4-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P