NAMCS 2012 nonsub just doc 092812 rev 101612

National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey – 0920-0234 – brief justification for nonsubstantive change and clerical burden correction.

NAMCS is an ongoing national survey. Various topics cycle in and out of the annual survey over time. There are several such changes for 2013. Information on Asthma and complementary and alternative medications will be cycled out. Information on other topics such as physician identification will be cycled in. And some topics like information on the physician office staff will be expanded. NAMCS staff has been working with the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) to incorporate needed and evolving information on the use and adoption of electronic medical records by physicians. Several questions will be changed on the National Electronic Health Records Survey supplement to accommodate ONC needs. A number of the changes were discussed with the NCHS OMB desk officer, Margo Schwab. She indicated in a June 22, 2012 e-mail that this level of changes could be considered non-substantive. The overall number of changes is minimal compared to the total surveys included in this IC.

In addition to the requested non-substantive change, we are taking this opportunity to correct the ROCIS data table to be consistent with the approved supporting statement. The 30-day notice [FR Vol. 76, No. 214, 11/04/2011, pp. 68464-65] for this study referred to total responses of 608,670 and to burden of 59,998 hours.  Due to the identification of an error and clarification of the method being used, the supporting statement was revised to clarify that the need was for only 571,530 responses and 50,923 burden hours.   Although this revised supporting statement was approved by OMB, the final numbers in the ROCIS data table appear to be wrong.   We are requesting that the information on the ROCIS data table be revised to show approved figures of 571,530 responses and 50,923 burden hours.