Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Request for Comment; National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS)

Jon Krohmer
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
30 August 2019

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 169 (Friday, August 30, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45826-45827]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-18781]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. DOT-NHTSA-2019-0025]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Request for 
Comment; National Emergency Medical Services Information System 
(NEMSIS)

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
abstracted below is being forwarded to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and comments. A Federal Register Notice with a 
60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following information 
collection was published on February 1, 2019. One comment was received 
during the 60-day comment period. The comment was submitted by a 
national EMS organization and was supportive of the National Emergency 
Medical Services Information System and NHTSA's continued collection of 
emergency medical services data from U.S. States and Territories.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before September 30, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding the burden estimate, including 
suggestions for reducing the burden, to the Office of Management and 
Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for NHTSA, 725 17th Street NW, 
Washington, DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access 
to background documents, contact Eric Chaney, Office of Emergency 
Medical Services (NPD-400), Room W44-318, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 
Washington, DC 20590. Mr. Chaney's telephone number is (202) 366-0257. 
Please identify the relevant collection of information by referring to 
its OMB Control Number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: National Emergency Medical Services Information System 
(NEMSIS)--State Submission to National EMS Database.
    OMB Control Number: 2127-0717.
    Type of Request: Collection of Emergency Medical Services Data.
    Type of Review Requested: Regular.
    Abstract: The U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway 
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was established by Congress to 
save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce economic costs due to motor 
vehicle crashes through education, research, safety standards, and 
enforcement activity. Within NHTSA, the Office of Emergency Medical 
Services is responsible for advancing a national vision for emergency 
medical services (EMS) through the development and implementation of 
targeted projects to benefit patient care, EMS practitioner safety and 
support of EMS research. The NHTSA Office of EMS also coordinates with 
the Federal and state highway safety community to ensure that EMS is 
equipped and prepared to carry out its mission of preventing death and 
reducing serious injuries after traffic crashes. NHTSA is proposing to 
continue voluntary collection of limited EMS information from U.S. 
States and Territories. There are no Federal mandates or requirements 
for submission of EMS information from U.S. States and Territories. The 
information is transmitted from local EMS agencies to State EMS data 
systems, and then onto NHTSA's National EMS Database via an automated 
``machine-to-machine'' process that uses Web Services. The information 
is transmitted from the point-of-care to states and NHTSA's National 
EMS Database in near real-time. The information collected by the 
National EMS Database is a de-identified subset of the data already 
being collected for use by state and territorial EMS Offices. The 
National EMS Database collects information that describes EMS agencies, 
the activation and response of individual EMS units to an emergency, 
emergency care provided on scene and during transport to a health 
facility, transport decision, disposition of the patient and incident, 
and EMS system times such as response time. Personal identifiable 
information (PII) such as the patient's name, patient's home address, 
patient's date of birth, patient's social security number, and 
patient's medical record number are not collected by the National EMS 
Database. The information collected by the National EMS Database is 
available to the public. The National EMS Database provides NHTSA's 
Office of EMS with information necessary to inform national EMS and 
first responder programs, projects, and initiatives; and determine the 
impact EMS has on highway safety and post-crash care. The information 
is also used by EMS and public health researchers to develop evidence 
for best practices in EMS operations and prehospital clinical care, and 
by local EMS agencies and state offices of EMS for performance 
improvement and benchmarking.
    Affected Public: State Governments.

[[Page 45827]]

    Estimated Number of Respondents: 56.
    Respondents include one representative from each State, populated 
Territory and the District of Columbia.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Number of Responses: N/A.
    Estimated Individual Burden: 18 hours.
    The Individual Burden for each of the 56 respondents is 18 hours 
per year. It is estimated that each respondent will spend an additional 
1.5 hours per month ensuring a subset of data from the existing State 
Dataset is transmitted to the National Dataset.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,008.
    Total burden hours are estimated based upon ongoing electronic 
submissions from each respondent, with machine to machine transmittal. 
NHTSA estimates that this information collection will involve 56 
respondents spending approximately 18 hours providing information for 
NEMSIS. Therefore, the total annual burden estimate is 1,008 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: $50,954.
    NHTSA estimated the total annual burden cost using the total 
average compensation costs for State, Territorial and local government 
workers of $50.55 per hour as reported by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics in December 2018. Therefore, the total cost associated with 
the 1,008 burden hours is $50,954. There are no additional anticipated 
costs to respondents or record keepers, beyond what they have already 
set up to meet their own State needs for this information.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of 
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the Department, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate 
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (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 or other forms of information technology.

    Authority:  The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35; and delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.95 and 501.8.

Jon Krohmer,
Acting Associate Administrator, Research and Program Development, 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
[FR Doc. 2019-18781 Filed 8-29-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-59-P