Proposed Criteria for Removing Chemicals From Future Editions of CDC's National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, 28346-28347 [E6-7395]
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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 94 / Tuesday, May 16, 2006 / Notices
four to five conference calls with some
pre and post evaluation time
(approximately 13 hours). Results from
this process will influence the
development of risk-adjustment and
hierarchical modeling approaches for
the AHRQ Quality Indicators. Beginning
in late June through September, selected
nominees will be asked to participate in
the following activities:
Workgroup Activities
1. Provide evaluative comments on
current methodology for risk-adjustment
and hierarchical modeling (2.0 hours)
and participate in subsequent
Workgroup call (1.0 hour);
2. Participate in second Workgroup
conference call to discuss suggested
changes to the current modeling
methodology, including the adoption of
hierarchical methods (1.5 hour);
3. Provide evaluative comments on
AHRQ’s new draft or revised
methodology (1.5 hour);
4. Participate in third Workgroup call
to respond to each others’ comments
and questions or provide additional
clarifications regarding draft
methodology (1.5 hours);
5. Review draft summary document
(1.5 hour);
6. Participate in fourth Workgroup
call. Provide suggestions for summary
document for public comment (2.0
hours); and,
7. Participate in final Workgroup call.
Discuss and respond to public
comments (2.0 hours).
Please note that should additional
conference calls be necessary,
Workgroup members are expected to
make every effort to participate. The
Workgroup will conduct business by
telephone, e-mail, or other electronic
means as needed.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mamatha Pancholi, Center for Delivery,
Organization, and Markets, Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality, 540
Gaither Road, Rockville, MD 20850;
Phone: (301) 427–1470; Fax: (301) 427–
1430; E-mail:
mamatha.pancholi@ahrq.hhs.gov
Marybeth Farquhar, Center for
Delivery, Organization, and Markets,
Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville,
MD 20850; Phone: (301) 427–1317; Fax:
(301) 427–1430; E-mail:
marybeth.farquhar@ahrq.hhs.gov.
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The AHRQ Quality Indicators (AHRQ
QIs) are a unique set of measures of
health care quality that make use of
readily available hospital inpatient
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:06 May 15, 2006
Jkt 208001
administrative data. The QIs have been
used for various purposes. Some of
these include tracking, hospital selfassessment, reporting of hospitalspecific quality or pay for performance.
The AHRQ QIs are provider- and arealevel quality indicators and currently
consist of four modules: the Prevention
Quality Indicators (PQI), the Inpatient
Quality Indicators, the Patient Safety
Indicators (PSI), and the Pediatric
Quality Indicators (PedQIs). In response
to feedback from the AHRQ QI user
community, AHRQ is committed to
developing risk adjustment approaches
in an effort to provide an overall view
of quality that is complete, useful and
easily understandable to consumers and
others with the health care field.
Dated: May 8, 2006.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
Director.
[FR Doc. 06–4574 Filed 5–15–06; 8:45am]
BILLING CODE 4160–90–M
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention
Proposed Criteria for Removing
Chemicals From Future Editions of
CDC’s National Report on Human
Exposure to Environmental Chemicals
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), Health and Human
Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: On Monday, October 7, 2002,
CDC published final criteria for
consideration of chemicals or categories
of chemicals for possible inclusion in
future releases of CDC’s ‘‘National
Report on Human Exposure to
Environmental Chemicals (the
‘‘Report’’) and also solicited chemicals
for possible inclusion in future editions
of the ‘‘Report’’ (See Federal Register,
67 FR 62477). The final selection
criteria have remained the same since
the issuance of the 2002 notice. They
are as follows: (1) Independent scientific
data which suggest that the potential for
exposure of the U.S. population to a
particular chemical is changing (i.e.,
increasing or decreasing) or persisting;
(2) seriousness of health effects known
or suspected to result from exposure to
the chemical (for example, cancer, birth
defects, or other serious health effects);
(3) proportion of the U.S. population
likely to be exposed to levels of
chemicals of known or potential health
significance; (4) need to assess the
efficacy of public health actions to
PO 00000
Frm 00051
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
reduce exposure to a chemical in the
U.S. population or a large component of
the U.S. population (for example, among
children, women of childbearing age,
the elderly); (5) existence of an
analytical method that can measure the
chemical or its metabolite in blood or
urine with adequate accuracy, precision,
sensitivity, and speed; and (6)
incremental analytical cost (in dollars
and personnel) to perform the analyses
(preference is given to chemicals that
can be added readily to existing
analytical methods).
On Tuesday, September 30, 2003,
CDC published a record of the
nominated chemicals of interest that
were scored by a panel of experts in
accordance with the published selection
criteria. (See Federal Register, 68 FR
56296.) All of this information is
available on CDC’s Web site at https://
www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/
chemical_nominations.htm. Past and
future nominations do not result in
obligatory laboratory analysis or
inclusion of nominated chemicals in the
‘‘Report,’’ but rather serve to better
inform CDC about which chemicals are
of concern to the public.
CDC now requests public comment on
proposed criteria for removing
chemicals from future editions of the
‘‘Report.’’ These removal criteria (given
below) will become part of a combined
process of nominating chemicals for
inclusion in or removal from the
‘‘Report.’’ This process will include (a)
nominations from the public of
chemicals to include or remove from the
‘‘Report,’’(b) an external scoring of
nominations in accord with the
published nomination and removal
criteria, and (c) assistance from the
Board of Scientific Counselors of CDC’s
National Center for Environmental
Health/Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry in reviewing plans
for including or removing chemicals
and identifying alternatives for
monitoring specific at-risk population
subgroups. This combined process for
nomination and removal would occur
periodically (e.g., every six years). The
criteria for selecting and removing
chemicals apply only to those chemicals
published in the ‘‘Report,’’ not those
merely nominated.
The proposed removal criteria are as
follows: A chemical may be removed
from the ‘‘Report’’: (1) If a new
replacement chemical (i.e., a metabolite)
is more representative of exposure than
the chemical currently being measured
or; (2) if after three survey periods (or
not less than six years), detection rates
for all chemicals within a
methodological and chemically-related
group* are less than 5 percent for all
E:\FR\FM\16MYN1.SGM
16MYN1
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 94 / Tuesday, May 16, 2006 / Notices
population subgroups (two sexes, three
race/ethnicity, and three age groups) or;
(3) if after three survey periods (or not
less than six years), levels of chemicals
within a methodological and
chemically-related group are unchanged
or declining in all the specific
subgroups as documented in the
‘‘Report.’’
A chemical would continue to be
measured and not be removed from the
‘‘Report’’ if it met either of two
proposed exceptions to these criteria: (a)
It is a chemical for which there is an
established biomonitoring health
threshold (e.g., CDC’s level of concern
for blood lead levels in children) or any
chemical for which there is widespread
public health concern (e.g., mercury) or
(b) three survey periods (or not less than
six years) have passed, which constitute
the minimum time before a chemical
could be removed; a longer period may
be necessary to account for the half-life
of a particular chemical or to account
for a recent change (e.g., the removal of
a chemical from commerce) that would
necessitate monitoring of the
population.
Note that the criteria for removing a
chemical from the ‘‘Report’’ are not the
corollaries of the criteria for adding
chemicals to the ‘‘Report.’’ After
reviewing and incorporating public
comments from this announcement,
CDC will publish the criteria in their
final form in the Federal Register.
*Chemicals within a methodological and
chemically related group are those which are
detected and identified by a single test or
analytic procedure, such that individual
chemicals in the group cannot easily be
dropped from analysis while others in the
group continue to be monitored.
Submit comments on or before
May 31, 2006, to the below address.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments
concerning this notice to Dorothy
Sussman, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, National Center for
Environmental Health, Division of
Laboratory Sciences, Mail Stop F–20,
4770 Buford Highway, Atlanta, Georgia
30341.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Dorothy Sussman, Telephone 770–488–
7950.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: CDC
publishes the ‘‘Report’’ under the
authorities 42 U.S.C. 241 and 42 U.S.C.
242k. The ‘‘Report’’ provides ongoing
assessment using biomonitoring of the
exposure of the noninstitutionalized,
civilian population to environmental
chemicals. Biomonitoring assesses
human exposure to chemicals by
measuring the chemicals or their
metabolites in human specimens such
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
DATES:
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16:06 May 15, 2006
Jkt 208001
as blood or urine. For the ‘‘Report,’’ an
environmental chemical means a
chemical compound or chemical
element present in air, water, soil, dust,
food, or other environmental medium.
The ‘‘Report’’ provides exposure
information about participants in an
ongoing national survey known as the
National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey (NHANES). This
survey is conducted by CDC’s National
Center for Health Statistics;
measurements are conducted by CDC’s
National Center for Environmental
Health. The first ‘‘Report,’’ published in
March 2001, gave information about
levels of 27 chemicals found in the U.S.
population; the second ‘‘Report,’’
published in January 2003, contained
exposure information on 116 chemicals,
including the 27 chemicals in the first
‘‘Report.’’ The third ‘‘Report,’’ published
in July 2005, contained exposure
information on 148 chemicals,
including data on the chemicals
published in the second ‘‘Report.’’ This
‘‘Report’’ can be obtained in the
following ways: access https://
www.cdc.gov/exposurereport; e-mail
ncehdls @cdc.gov; or telephone 1–866–
670–6052. Over time, CDC will be able
to track trends in exposure levels. The
‘‘Report’’ is published every 2 years; the
fourth ‘‘Report’’ is slated for publication
in 2007.
James D. Seligman,
Chief Information Officer, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC).
[FR Doc. E6–7395 Filed 5–15–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163–18–P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services
Privacy Act of 1974; Report of a New
System of Records
Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS), Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notice of a New System of
Records (SOR).
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: In accordance with the
requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974,
we are proposing to establish a new
system titled, ‘‘Medicaid Program and
State Children’s Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP) Payment Error Rate
Measurement (PERM), System No. 09–
70–0578.’’ The Improper Payments
Information Act (IPIA) of 2002 (Pub. L.
107–300) requires heads of Federal
agencies to annually estimate and report
to the Congress national error rates for
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28347
the programs they oversee. The
Medicaid and SCHIP programs were
identified by the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) as programs at risk
for significant erroneous payments.
OMB has directed HHS to report the
estimated error rate for the Medicaid
and SCHIP programs to OMB. Since
Medicaid and SCHIP are administered
by state agencies according to each
state’s unique program characteristics,
state assistance in estimating improper
payments is critical and continues to be
necessary and important for the
Secretary to comply with the
requirements of the IPIA. CMS will use
a national contracting strategy to
calculate a state-by-state,
comprehensive error rate for both the
Medicaid and SCHIP programs.
Implementing regulations set forth state
requirements to: (1) Provide claims
information to CMS for the purposes of
estimating improper payment in
Medicaid and SCHIP; and (2) measure
improper payments in the Medicaid and
SCHIP based on eligibility errors.
The primary purpose of this system is
to collect and maintain individually
identifiable claims information to
calculate payment error rates for
Medicaid and SCHIP programs.
Information in this system will also be
used to: (1) Support regulatory and
policy functions performed within the
Agency or by a contractor, consultant or
grantee; (2) assist another Federal or
state agency in the proper
administration of the Medicare program,
enable such agency to administer a
Federal health benefits program, and/or
assist Federal/state Medicaid programs
within the state; (3) support constituent
requests made to a Congressional
representative; (4) to support litigation
involving the Agency related to this
system; and (5) combat fraud and abuse
in certain health benefits programs. We
have provided background information
about the proposed system in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section
below. Although the Privacy Act
requires only that the ‘‘routine use’’
portion of the system be published for
comment, CMS invites comments on all
portions of this notice. See ‘‘Effective
Dates’’ section for comment period.
EFFECTIVE DATES: CMS filed a new SOR
report with the Chair of the House
Committee on Government Reform and
Oversight, the Chair of the Senate
Committee on Homeland Security &
Governmental Affairs, and the
Administrator, Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs, OMB on May 9,
2006. To ensure that all parties have
adequate time in which to comment, the
new system will become effective 30
E:\FR\FM\16MYN1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 94 (Tuesday, May 16, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28346-28347]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-7395]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Proposed Criteria for Removing Chemicals From Future Editions of
CDC's National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals
AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Health and
Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: On Monday, October 7, 2002, CDC published final criteria for
consideration of chemicals or categories of chemicals for possible
inclusion in future releases of CDC's ``National Report on Human
Exposure to Environmental Chemicals (the ``Report'') and also solicited
chemicals for possible inclusion in future editions of the ``Report''
(See Federal Register, 67 FR 62477). The final selection criteria have
remained the same since the issuance of the 2002 notice. They are as
follows: (1) Independent scientific data which suggest that the
potential for exposure of the U.S. population to a particular chemical
is changing (i.e., increasing or decreasing) or persisting; (2)
seriousness of health effects known or suspected to result from
exposure to the chemical (for example, cancer, birth defects, or other
serious health effects); (3) proportion of the U.S. population likely
to be exposed to levels of chemicals of known or potential health
significance; (4) need to assess the efficacy of public health actions
to reduce exposure to a chemical in the U.S. population or a large
component of the U.S. population (for example, among children, women of
childbearing age, the elderly); (5) existence of an analytical method
that can measure the chemical or its metabolite in blood or urine with
adequate accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and speed; and (6)
incremental analytical cost (in dollars and personnel) to perform the
analyses (preference is given to chemicals that can be added readily to
existing analytical methods).
On Tuesday, September 30, 2003, CDC published a record of the
nominated chemicals of interest that were scored by a panel of experts
in accordance with the published selection criteria. (See Federal
Register, 68 FR 56296.) All of this information is available on CDC's
Web site at https://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/chemical_
nominations.htm. Past and future nominations do not result in
obligatory laboratory analysis or inclusion of nominated chemicals in
the ``Report,'' but rather serve to better inform CDC about which
chemicals are of concern to the public.
CDC now requests public comment on proposed criteria for removing
chemicals from future editions of the ``Report.'' These removal
criteria (given below) will become part of a combined process of
nominating chemicals for inclusion in or removal from the ``Report.''
This process will include (a) nominations from the public of chemicals
to include or remove from the ``Report,''(b) an external scoring of
nominations in accord with the published nomination and removal
criteria, and (c) assistance from the Board of Scientific Counselors of
CDC's National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry in reviewing plans for including or
removing chemicals and identifying alternatives for monitoring specific
at-risk population subgroups. This combined process for nomination and
removal would occur periodically (e.g., every six years). The criteria
for selecting and removing chemicals apply only to those chemicals
published in the ``Report,'' not those merely nominated.
The proposed removal criteria are as follows: A chemical may be
removed from the ``Report'': (1) If a new replacement chemical (i.e., a
metabolite) is more representative of exposure than the chemical
currently being measured or; (2) if after three survey periods (or not
less than six years), detection rates for all chemicals within a
methodological and chemically-related group* are less than 5 percent
for all
[[Page 28347]]
population subgroups (two sexes, three race/ethnicity, and three age
groups) or; (3) if after three survey periods (or not less than six
years), levels of chemicals within a methodological and chemically-
related group are unchanged or declining in all the specific subgroups
as documented in the ``Report.''
A chemical would continue to be measured and not be removed from
the ``Report'' if it met either of two proposed exceptions to these
criteria: (a) It is a chemical for which there is an established
biomonitoring health threshold (e.g., CDC's level of concern for blood
lead levels in children) or any chemical for which there is widespread
public health concern (e.g., mercury) or (b) three survey periods (or
not less than six years) have passed, which constitute the minimum time
before a chemical could be removed; a longer period may be necessary to
account for the half-life of a particular chemical or to account for a
recent change (e.g., the removal of a chemical from commerce) that
would necessitate monitoring of the population.
Note that the criteria for removing a chemical from the ``Report''
are not the corollaries of the criteria for adding chemicals to the
``Report.'' After reviewing and incorporating public comments from this
announcement, CDC will publish the criteria in their final form in the
Federal Register.
*Chemicals within a methodological and chemically related group
are those which are detected and identified by a single test or
analytic procedure, such that individual chemicals in the group
cannot easily be dropped from analysis while others in the group
continue to be monitored.
DATES: Submit comments on or before May 31, 2006, to the below address.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments concerning this notice to Dorothy
Sussman, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center
for Environmental Health, Division of Laboratory Sciences, Mail Stop F-
20, 4770 Buford Highway, Atlanta, Georgia 30341.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dorothy Sussman, Telephone 770-488-
7950.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: CDC publishes the ``Report'' under the
authorities 42 U.S.C. 241 and 42 U.S.C. 242k. The ``Report'' provides
ongoing assessment using biomonitoring of the exposure of the
noninstitutionalized, civilian population to environmental chemicals.
Biomonitoring assesses human exposure to chemicals by measuring the
chemicals or their metabolites in human specimens such as blood or
urine. For the ``Report,'' an environmental chemical means a chemical
compound or chemical element present in air, water, soil, dust, food,
or other environmental medium. The ``Report'' provides exposure
information about participants in an ongoing national survey known as
the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). This
survey is conducted by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics;
measurements are conducted by CDC's National Center for Environmental
Health. The first ``Report,'' published in March 2001, gave information
about levels of 27 chemicals found in the U.S. population; the second
``Report,'' published in January 2003, contained exposure information
on 116 chemicals, including the 27 chemicals in the first ``Report.''
The third ``Report,'' published in July 2005, contained exposure
information on 148 chemicals, including data on the chemicals published
in the second ``Report.'' This ``Report'' can be obtained in the
following ways: access https://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport; e-mail
ncehdls @cdc.gov; or telephone 1-866-670-6052. Over time, CDC will be
able to track trends in exposure levels. The ``Report'' is published
every 2 years; the fourth ``Report'' is slated for publication in 2007.
James D. Seligman,
Chief Information Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC).
[FR Doc. E6-7395 Filed 5-15-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P
