[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 85 (Monday, May 4, 2015)]

[Notices]

[Pages 25296-25298]

From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [http://www.gpo.gov/]

[FR Doc No: 2015-10286]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-15-15ADW; Docket No. CDC-2015-0025]

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.

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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part 

of its continuing efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the 

utility of government information, invites the general public and other 

Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or 

continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on the proposed 

information collection request entitled ``Employer Perspectives of an 

Insurer-Sponsored Wellness Grant''. This collection is a part of an 

employer study to understand the impact of integrating wellness 

programs with traditional occupational safety and health (OSH) 

programs.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before July 6, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2015-

0025 by any of the following methods:

 Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulation.gov. Follow the instructions 

for submitting comments.

 Mail: Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection Review Office, 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MSD74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.

 Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 

and Docket Number. All relevant comments received will be posted 

without change to Regulations.gov, including any personal information 

provided. For access to the docket to read background documents or 

comments received, go to Regulations.gov.

 Please note: All public comment should be submitted through the 

Federal eRulemaking portal (Regulations.gov) 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 the Information Collection Review Office, 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MSD74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: omb@cdc.gov.

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 OMB for approval. To 

comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 

proposed data collection as described below.

 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; (d) ways to 

minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 

including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 

forms of information technology; and (e) estimates of capital or startup costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services 

to provide information. Burden means the total time, effort, or 

financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, 

disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This 

includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, 

install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of 

collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and 

maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to 

train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of 

information, to search data sources, to complete and review the 

collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the 

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information.

Proposed Project

 Employer Perspectives of an Insurer-Sponsored Wellness Grant--New--

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers 

for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

 The mission of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 

Health (NIOSH) is to promote safety and health at work for all people 

through research and prevention. Under Public Law 91-596, sections 20 

and 22 (Section 20-22, Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970), 

NIOSH has the responsibility to conduct research to advance the health 

and safety of workers. In this capacity, NIOSH proposes to conduct a 

study among employers in Ohio insured by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' 

Compensation (OHBWC) to (1) assess the effectiveness and cost-benefit 

of an intervention that funds workplace wellness programs and (2) 

understand the impact of integrating wellness programs with traditional 

occupational safety and health (OSH) programs.

 Work-related injuries and illnesses are common among US workers and 

result in pain, disability, and substantial cost to workers and 

employers. A recent, comprehensive analysis of the economic burden of 

work-related injuries and illnesses estimated that in 2007 alone 

medical and indirect costs for work-related injuries and illnesses were 

$250 billion. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there were 

4,609 occupational fatalities in 2011 and approximately 2 million workrelated injuries and illnesses that involved some lost work in 2010.

 Workers' health is affected not only by workplace safety and health 

hazards, but also workers' own health behaviors. Reflecting this, two 

different, yet, complementary approaches exist in the workplace: OSH 

programs and wellness programs. Both types of programs aim to improve 

worker health and reduce costs to employers, workers' compensation (WC) 

insurers, and society. Since 2004, NIOSH has advocated an approach that 

coordinates wellness programs with OSH programs because emerging 

evidence suggests that integrating these two fields may have a 

synergistic effect on worker safety and health.

 NIOSH has established an intramural program for protecting and 

promoting Total Worker Health\TM\. The NIOSH Total Worker 

HealthTM Cross-Sector

[[Page 25297]]

Program promotes the integration of health and safety protection with 

health and wellness promotion through research, interventions, 

partnerships, and capacity building to meet the needs of the 21st 

century workforce. The proposed project addresses three priority goals 

of the NIOSH Total Worker Health\TM\ Program: (1) Investigate the 

costs/benefits associated with comprehensive, coordinated work-based 

health protection/health promotion interventions; (2) improve the 

understanding of how the work environment influences the effectiveness 

of health programs and identify opportunities for workplace 

interventions to prevent, control, recognize and manage common chronic 

conditions; and (3) conduct scientific research that more holistically 

investigates organizational and worker health and safety outcomes 

associated with emerging issues and addresses gaps in knowledge in the 

health protection/health promotion field.

 There is a need for research to demonstrate a `business case' for 

both wellness programs and integrated OSH-wellness programs and 

identify OSH organizational and management policies, programs and 

practices that effectively reduce work-related injuries, illnesses, 

disabilities and WC costs. To date small employers have been largely 

ignored in these areas and many studies have focused on the 

manufacturing industry. Real-world examples of effective interventions 

that apply to employers of all sizes and industries will ultimately 

improve workers' health and safety.

 For the current study, NIOSH and OHBWC are collaborating on a 

project to determine the effectiveness and economic return of the 

Workplace Wellness Grant Program (WWGP) and to understand the impact of 

integrating of wellness with traditional OSH programs. In early 2012 

OHBWC took steps to integrate wellness and OSH programs by launching 

the WWGP, in which an estimated 400 (currently 321) employers and 

13,000 employees will be provided a total of $4 million in funds over 

four years to implement wellness programs.

 The majority of the study aims will be accomplished through 

secondary analysis of pre- and post-intervention data being collected 

by OHBWC and shared with NIOSH. For the overall study, data for 

participating employers will include aggregate health risk appraisal 

data; aggregate biometric data; turnover data; health care utilization 

costs; information about occupational safety and health, wellness, and 

integrated occupational safety and health-wellness program elements; 

OHBWC WWGP expense records; yearly WC claims and cost data; data that 

details employer participation in other OHBWC programs; industry codes, 

and employer size. A sample of no more than 50 employers will be 

selected among grantees for 1-2 brief phone calls to confirm responses 

on an annual survey administered by OHBWC.

 In addition, NIOSH will supplement the cost data extracted from 

existing sources with information collected through in-depth, semistructured interviews with no more than 25, randomly selected, 

participating employers. Data gathered from these employer interviews 

are critical to compute ratios of total savings to total costs for the 

grant-supported wellness programs from the perspective of the 

participating employers.

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 NIOSH will ask a series of questions that will be used to estimate 

direct and indirect costs that were not directly funded by the WWGP 

during and after the grant funding period. This will be accomplished by 

collecting as detailed information as possible about the employer's 

wellness program and occupational and safety program costs. Topics will 

include questions about: The timeline and confirmation of grant funding 

(4 questions), non-grant funds used for wellness program costs after 

receiving the first grant (5 questions), non-grant funds used for 

wellness program costs before receiving the first grant (7 questions), 

time spent on wellness program after receiving the grant (3 questions), 

time spent on wellness program before receiving the grant (7 

questions), other questions about the people planning and running the 

wellness program (2 or 4 questions), work time spent by employees for 

wellness activities (6 to 11 questions), changes to OSH plan and 

hazards after receiving the grant (8 to 13 questions), and other 

questions about their wellness program (3 to 5 questions).

 The results of these interview-supplemented case studies will be 

used to estimate the proportion by which total employer costs exceed 

the cost of the primary wellness program vendor, as well as the 

proportion of these costs attributable to establishing the program in 

the first year versus operating the program in subsequent years. These 

estimates will be applied to generate total employer costs for all of 

the WWGP recipients, with sensitivity analysis based on the observed 

variability of employer costs in the case studies.

 If the WWGP is effective at improving worker health, reducing WC 

claims and demonstrating a positive economic return, then other 

employers and insurance carriers may develop similar programs and drive 

the optimization of integrated OSH-wellness approaches. NIOSH expects 

to complete data collection in 2017.

 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 Total burden

 Type of respondent Form name respondents responses per response (in hours

 respondent hours)

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Wellness Program Coordinators.................. Employer interviews on cost of wellness 25 1 2 50

 and occupational safety and health

 program.

Occupational Safety and Health Specialists..... Employer interviews on cost of wellness 25 1 2 50

 and occupational safety and health

 program.

The person in charge of the employer's wellness Annual case study verification 100 1 30/60 50

 program. interview.

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 Total...................................... ....................................... .............. .............. .............. 150

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[[Page 25298]]

Leroy A. Richardson,

Chief, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 

Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the 

Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

[FR Doc. 2015-10286 Filed 5-1-15; 8:45 am]

 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P

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