Change Request for National Vital Statistics Report Forms

Request for Approval of a Non-Substantive Change:

National Vital Statistics Report Forms

OMB No. 0920-0213

OMB Exp. Date April 30, 2015

Contact Information:

Delton Atkinson

Director, Division of Vital Statistics

National Center for Health Statistics/CDC

3311 Toledo Road, Room 7313

Hyattsville, MD. 20782

301-458-4467

301-458-4034 (fax)

DAtkinson@cdc.gov

February 9, 2016

NATIONAL VITAL STATISTICS REPORT FORMS

A1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

This request is for a nonsubstantive change to an approved data collection (OMB No. 0920-0213) (expires 04/30/2018), the National Vital Statistics Report Forms (NVSR). On April 10, 2015, NVSR was approved to continue to collect data for the three years. To date these data collection forms have been used by State and/or county vital registration offices to report to the Federal government (a) provisional counts of births, deaths, infant deaths, marriages, and divorces at the end of each month and (b) annual final counts of marriages and divorces/annulments in support of the National Vital Statistics System.

With this nonsubstantive change request the followings modifications are requested:

• Monthly reporting of marriages and divorces/annulments counts will be deleted from the Monthly Vital Statistics Report (Attachment A captures the newly proposed form and Attachment C represents the currently approved version); thereby reducing the average burden time for that form by 2 minutes. Reporting of occurrence totals by month will continue to be collected on the Annual Vital Statistics Report (Attachment B captures the newly proposed form and Attachment D represents the currently approved version).

• Instructions for the Monthly Vital Statistics Report will be updated to reflect the deletion of the monthly reporting of marriages, divorces, and annulments on that form.

• A note within the Annual Vital Statistics Report will be updated to reference the discontinuation of marriages and divorces/annulments monthly counts from the Monthly Vital Statistics Report. No changes to the actual data elements within the Annual Vital Statistics Report are requested, only the example dates have been updated. Example dates within the Monthly form have also been updated.

A2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

The data are widely used by all agencies of the Public Health Service and other government, academic, and private research organizations in tracking changes in trends of vital events, including trends in family formation and dissolution. These data complement the U.S. Vital Statistics program and serve as the basis for weighting provisional surveillance estimates of birth and death. They also provide surveillance for change in trends in the various vital events being tracked; if the data were not collected monthly, changes in trends would not be recognized at an early stage.

While final marriage and divorce/annulment data must be collected annually to permit uninterrupted tracking of family dynamics, it has been determined that the collection of this information does not need to be reported on both the Monthly and Annual Vital Statistics Reports. Consequently, the deletion of the following marriage and divorce/annulment items from the paper and electronic versions of the Monthly Vital Statistics Report will reduce the average burden for completing the Monthly Vital Statistics Report by 2 minutes.

Form	Current Question/Item	Requested Change
Monthly Vital Statistics Report (Example Date on the Paper Version)	Month and Year ex January 2014	Month and Year ex January 2016
Monthly Vital Statistics Report (Paper Version)	____Marriages between ____ and ____.	Item Deletion
Monthly Vital Statistics Report (Paper Version)	___Divorces and annulments between ___ and ____.	Item Deletion
Monthly Vital Statistics Report (Paper Version Instructions)	Marriages (or marriage licenses) Include all marriages (or marriage licenses) reported to the state (or county, if applicable) office between the two dates indicated on the front of this form. Include events reported between two dates a month apart, without regard to date of occurrence (or issuance). Use the same cutoff dates from month to month.	Instruction Deletion
Monthly Vital Statistics Report (Paper Version Instructions)	Divorces and Annulments Include only decrees of absolute divorce and annulments which are reported to the state office between the two dates indicated on the front of this form. Exclude decrees of separation and other limited decrees. Include events reported between two dates a month apart, without regard to date of occurrence. Use the same cutoff dates from month to month.	Instruction Deletion
Monthly Vital Statistics Report (Electronic Version)	There were ___ marriages reported to this office between _____ and _____.	Item Deletion
Monthly Vital Statistics Report (Electronic Version)	There were ___ divorces and annulments reported to this office between _____ and _____.	Item Deletion
Monthly Vital Statistics Report (Electronic Version Instructions)	Please indicate on the form below, counts for births, deaths, infant deaths, marriages (or marriage licenses) and divorces and annulments, in the space provided by the underline. For birth and death counts, report the number of certificates received between two dates a month apart, without regard to date of occurrence. For infant death counts, include all certificates of death under one year of age. PLEASE do not include fetal deaths or stillbirths in the counts for births and deaths. For marriage counts (or marriage licenses), include all marriages reported to the state office between two dates a month apart, without regard to date of occurrence or issuance. For divorce and annulment counts, include only decrees of absolute divorce or annulments reported to the state office between two dates a month apart, without regard to date of occurrence. If possible, use the same time frame (or cutoff dates) from month to month, when providing counts for births, and deaths, marriages, and divorces and Annulments.	Please indicate on the form below, counts for births, deaths, and infant deaths, in the space provided by the underline. For birth and death counts, report the number of certificates received between two dates a month apart, without regard to date of occurrence. For infant death counts, include all certificates of death under one year of age. PLEASE do not include fetal deaths or stillbirths in the counts for births and deaths. If possible, use the same time frame (or cutoff dates) from month to month, when providing counts for births, and deaths.
Annual Vital Statistics Report (Example Date on the Paper Version)	Calendar Year (ex. 2011)	Calendar Year (ex. 2016)
Annual Vital Statistics Report (Item 1 of the Note section on the Electronic Version)	Please DO NOT provide monthly receipt counts in response to this request; as you know we receive "monthly counts" from your staff on an ongoing basis representing the number of certificates received in your office for the monthly report period reporting of "monthly counts" from your staff representing the number of certificates received in your office for the monthly report period has been discontinued effective 2016. The present request is not for "receipts" but rather for "occurrences".	Please DO NOT provide monthly receipt counts in response to this request; reporting of "monthly counts" from your staff representing the number of certificates received in your office for the monthly report period has been discontinued effective 2016. The present request is not for "receipts" but rather for "occurrences".

A12. Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours and Costs

Respondents for the Monthly Vital Statistics Report Form are registration officials in each State and Territory, the District of Columbia, and New York City. In addition, 33 local (county) officials in New Mexico who record marriages occurring in each of the 33 counties of New Mexico use this Form for a total of 91 respondents. Respondents for the Annual Vital Statistics Occurrence Report are the 58 registration officials in each State and Territory, the District of Columbia, and New York City.

Monthly counts of marriages and divorces/annulments which were previously captured on the Monthly Vital Statistics Report Forms have been deleted. The marriages and divorces/annulments by month of occurrence will continue to be captured on the Annual Vital Statistics Report Form. Discontinuing the collection of monthly counts of marriages using the Monthly Vital Statistics Report Form will thereby reduce the average burden for completing the Monthly Vital Statistics Report by 2 minutes from 10 minutes to 8 minutes.

Table 1. Estimated Annual Burden Hours
Type of Respondents	Form Name	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses Per Respondents	Average Burden Per Response (in hours)	Total Burden (in hours)
State, Territory and New Mexico County officials	Monthly Vital Statistics Report	91	12	8/60	146
State, Territory and other officials	Annual Vital Statistics Occurrence Report	58	1	30/60	29
Total					175

There are no direct costs to respondents of either the Monthly or Annual Vital Statistics Report Forms; the data are routinely available in each reporting office as a by-product of ongoing activities.

In terms of the annualized cost to respondents for the burden hours for the collection of information, the average cost per respondent to complete the 8 minute Monthly Vital Statistics Report Form has been reduced from $2.47 to $2.13, at an average wage rate of $16 per hour. The average cost of $8 per respondent to complete the 30 minute annual form remains unchanged. Overall, the total respondent costs based on their time spent completing the forms has been reduced from $3,376 to $2,800.

Table 2. Estimated Annual Burden Costs

Total Burden Hours	Respondent Wage Rate per Hour	Total Respondent Costs
175	$16.00	$2,800

A15. Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments

Monthly counts of marriages and divorces/annulments which were previously captured on both the Monthly and Annual Vital Statistics Report Forms have been deleted from the Monthly Vital Statistics Report Form; thereby, reducing the average burden for completing the Monthly Vital Statistics Report by 2 minutes from 10 minutes to 8 minutes and the total burden hours from 182 hours to 146 hours. The burden hours for the Annual Vital Statistics Report was unchanged. Consequently, the overall total burden for this package has been reduced by 36 hours from 211 hours to 175 hours

List of Attachments.

Attachment A: Monthly Vital Statistics Report Form (newly proposed)

Attachment B: Annual Vital Statistics Report Forms (newly proposed)

Attachment C: Monthly Vital Statistics Report Form (currently approved)

Attachment D: Annual Vital Statistics Report Forms (currently approved)

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