Supporting Statement A for
NLM Lost People-Finder System
Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications
January 26, 2010
David H. Sharlip
National Library of Medicine
Office of Administrative and Management Analysis Services
Building 38A, Room B2N12
(301) 496-5441 Phone
(301) 402-0871 Fax
Mini Supporting Statement
NLM Lost People-Finder Tool
Section A
A.1 Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary
This collection of data is intended to assist in the reunification of family members who are separated during a disaster. Reunification not only can improve the emotional well-being of family members and loved ones during the recovery period, but can improve the chances that family members will be available to care for injured victims once they are released from urgent medical care. Reunited family members and loved ones are also a valuable source of medical information that may be important to the care of injured victims (e.g., family or personal medical history, information about allergies).
The circumstance requiring the rapid initiation of this collection of information is the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, which resulted in significant loss of life and disruption of services in Haiti, separated many family members in Haiti, and made it extremely difficult for family members in the United States to determine the safety, condition, and location of family members and loved ones in Haiti. The National Library of Medicine aims to join other Federal agencies in ongoing relief efforts and to serve its mission of supporting national efforts to the response to disasters. The information collection would be voluntary. It would be activated only during times of declared emergencies and would operate until relief efforts have ceased.
This data collection is authorized pursuant to sections 301, 307, 465 and 478A of the Public Health Service Act [42 USC 241, 242l, 286 and 286d]. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has in its mission the development and coordination of communication technology to improve the delivery of health services. NLM is a member of the Bethesda Hospitals’ Emergency Preparedness Partnership (BHEPP), which was established in 2004 to improve community disaster preparedness and response in Bethesda, MD. As part of the National Capital Region, Bethesda would likely be called upon to absorb mass casualties in a major regional disaster. BHEPP hospitals include the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC), the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (NIH CC), and Suburban Hospital/Johns Hopkins Medicine. Congress provided funding for BHEPP in FY 2005 and provided additional funding for supporting research and development in FY 2008. NLM, with its expertise in communications, information management, and medical informatics joined BHEPP to coordinate the R&D program, one element of which is development of a lost person finder to assist in family reunification after a disaster.
Given the situation in Haiti, NLM has hastened development of an operational version of the Lost Person Finder system and seeks to begin collecting information as soon as possible to assist in ongoing relief efforts.
.
A.2 Purpose and Use of the Information Collection
Collected data will be made available to the public via a specialized search interface to allow users to search for and locate family members and other loved ones. Data would be shared with other lost person finder systems endorsed by other Federal agencies, such as the U.S. Department of State, which is making use of a system developed by Google. NLM will also use the data to evaluate the functioning and utility of the lost person finder and guide future enhancements to the system.
A.3 Use of Information Technology and Burden Reduction
The information collection uses advanced information technology for submitting information to the system and for searching it. Photographs and textual information describing “found” victims of the disaster can be submitted via email from computers or camera-enabled cell phones. NLM has also developed an application for the iPhone to simplify the submission of information. The search mechanism allows on-line retrieval of possible matches using descriptive information, such as age group, gender, and location, in addition to name.
A.4 Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information
NLM has sole responsibility for developing the lost person finder for use within member organizations of the BHEPP. It collaborates with other organizations involved in disaster response to identify duplicative efforts. In the case of Haiti, Google is currently operating a lost person finder that accepts information from a variety of sources, but does not offer as much functionality as the NLM system. The NLM LPF has several unique features, such as the iPhone application, that are not currently available in Google’s system. NLM's system also allows users to search based on criteria other than name, such as age (adult or child), and gender. The NLM LPF also includes a "notification wall" for a scrolling display of images of victims added in the last 1 or 24 hours. Finally, NLM is developing a federated system to provide one-stop searching across all known lost person finders including Google and CNN. Information sent to NLM will be shared with the Google site and searches performed with the NLM search engine will retrieve relevant information from Google. In this way, the two sites will not be duplicative, but will offer complementary services.
A.5 Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities
N/A
A.6 Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently
The use of the LPF will enable timely data entry by first responders, care providers, and other relief workers at the scene of a disaster (such as when victims are triaged for medical care) to assist in reunifying family members. Not collecting and not making available information for the Lost Person Finder would reduce the probability of timely reunification of families after a disaster or lengthen the time needed for family members to find each other. Failure to collect this information would also slow continuing efforts to improve the system for use in future disasters.
A.7 Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5
This survey will be implemented in a manner that fully complies with 5 C.F.R. 1320.5. The agency is requesting emergency clearance so that the information collection may begin in a timely fashion as recovery efforts in Haiti are under way. The system had been in development for use within the BHEPP, but the unexpected earthquake in Haiti has prompted an effort to complete development of an operational system on a very short timeline that precludes the use of standard comment and review procedures.
A.8 Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside Agency
Development of NLM’s Lost Person Finder has been pursued in consultation with members of the BHEPP: the NIH Clinical Center, Navy National Medical Center, and Suburban Hospital/Johns-Hopkins Medicine. In addition, since the earthquake in Haiti, NLM has been in contact with Apple, Google, the US Department of State, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to inform them of its efforts.
A.9 Explanation of Any Payment of Gift to Respondents
No payment or gift will be provided to survey participants.
A.10 Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents
Information describing missing and recovered (“found”) victims of the disaster will be made available to the public, consistent with the intent of the system to assist family members in finding each other. Information collected about missing and found persons will be minimal: a photograph, name (if available for a found person), age group (child, adult), gender, status (alive and well, injured, deceased, unknown), and location. Those submitting information to the system will be informed that all submitted information will be made publicly available and that submission of information is voluntary. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) will be collected.
NIH SORN 0200 is currently being amended by the NIH Privacy Officer
NLM has been informed that a request for an IRB exemption will be granted
A.11 Justification for Sensitive Questions
As noted above, collected information will consist of: a photograph, name (if available for a found person), age group (child, adult), gender, status (alive and well, injured, deceased, unknown), and location.
A.12 Estimates of Hour Burden Including Annualized Hourly Costs
The estimated burden consists of the burden to emergency responders (care providers, relief workers) entering data into the system and of family members entering data to list a missing person and/or search for possible matches. We estimate that some 500 emergency responders might use the system during the course of the relief effort and that each might submit information on 100 people. Submission of information, especially through the iPhone application, is very fast and is estimated to average not more than 5 minutes per entry. The number of family members entering information about a missing person could be much higher. Based on use to-date of the Google person finder system (note: Google’s person finder contained 43,000 records as of January 25, 2010. We estimate that some 50,000 family members might use the system twice during a disaster. Data entry would average no more than 5 minutes. The total hour burden is calculated to be 12,000 hours. Using the average wage for all US workers of $20.32 per hour for family members and a rate of $32.64 per hour for emergency responders and other healthcare providers, the total dollar burden would be $293,120. All use of the system is voluntary. Improved estimates of the burden – in particular the number of respondents and frequency of response – could be provided after the initial use of the system in Haiti.
A.12-1 Estimates of Annual Hours Burden
|
||||
Types of Respondents |
Number of Respondents |
Responses per Respondent |
Average Response Time |
Annual Hour Burden |
Emergency Care First-Responders, Physicians, Other Health Care Providers |
500 |
100 |
0.08 |
4,000 |
Family members seeking a missing person |
50,000 |
2 |
0.08 |
8,000 |
Total |
50,500 |
|
|
12,000 |
|
A12.2 Annualized Cost to Respondents
|
||||
Types of Respondents |
Number of Respondents |
Responses per Respondent |
Average Time per Response |
Hourly Wage Rate |
Respondent Cost |
Emergency Care First-Responders, Other Health Care Providers |
500
|
100 |
0.08 |
$32.64 |
$130,560
|
Family members seeking a missing person |
50,000 |
2 |
0.08 |
$20.32 |
$162,560 |
Total |
50,500 |
|
|
|
$293,120 |
Cost has been estimated using the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational employment statistics http://www.bls.gov/oes/data.htm
A.13 Estimate of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents or Record Keepers
N/A
A.14 Annualized Cost to the Federal Government
N/A
A.15 Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments
N/A
A.16 Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule
Data submitted to the lost person finder will be made publicly available/searchable as soon as possible after receipt. At the end of relief operations, a summary paper may be prepared to describe the use of the system and its success in reuniting family members.
A.17 Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate
We are not requesting an exemption to the display of the OMB Expiration date.
A.18 Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions
This survey will comply with the requirements in 5 CFR 1320.9.
File Type | application/msword |
File Title | NLM mini-supporting statement LPF Tool |
Subject | NLM mini-supporting statement LPF Tool |
Author | NLM JS/DS |
Last Modified By | curriem |
File Modified | 2010-01-28 |
File Created | 2010-01-28 |