cover memo 6 11 2009

TO: Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Through: Reports Clearance Officer, DHHS

Project Clearance Chief, NIH

Project Clearance Liaison, NCCAM

FROM: Alyssa Cotler

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)

SUBJECT: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) Communications Program Planning and Evaluation

The staff of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) Office of Communications plans to conduct a formative research survey under OMB Control Number 0925-0530, expiration date October 31, 2010. The survey will assess customer satisfaction with the NCCAM newsletter. Demographic information, including health care interests as well as type of health care provider and specialty (if applicable), will be used to alter newsletter content to meet the needs of the subscribers.

Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

The NCCAM newsletter is a fundamental tool for providing complementary and alternative medical information to consumers. A survey placed in the newsletter would provide the necessary feedback to the newsletter content to be tailored to the subscribers’ needs. The responses would allow NCCAM to gauge what features and topics the consumers are most interested in, construct ideal formats, and determine preferred delivery methods.

Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

This formative survey will assess the content, format, and delivery of the NCCAM newsletter. Using the respondents’ feedback, NCCAM will revise materials to ensure customer satisfaction and ease of use.

All subscribers and visitors to the newsletter page on NCCAM’s web site will be asked to complete a brief survey regarding newsletter preferences. The survey can either be completed online or returned via USPS with a prepaid-postage envelope. Completion will be voluntary with no payment and individual responses will be kept confidential. Findings will be used by NCCAM for program planning purposes and published or otherwise shared externally.

Estimates of Burden Hours and Costs

Type of Respondents	Number of Respondents	Frequency of Response	Average Time per Response	Annual Hour Burden	Respondent Cost
Newsletter subscribers	400	1	0.05	20 Hours	$0