Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Adverse Event Program for Medical Devices (Medical Product Safety Network)

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, Agency, or we) is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information by the Agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Federal Agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, and to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on the Adverse Event Program for Medical Devices (Medical Program Safety Network (MedSun)).

DATES:

Submit either electronic or written comments on the collection of information by November 19, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments as follows. Please note that late, untimely filed comments will not be considered. Electronic comments must be submitted on or before November 19, 2019. The https://www.regulations.gov electronic filing system will accept comments until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time at the end of November 19, 2019. Comments received by mail/hand delivery/courier (for written/paper submissions) will be considered timely if they are postmarked or the delivery service acceptance receipt is on or before that date.

Electronic Submissions

Submit electronic comments in the following way:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment does not include any confidential information that you or a third party may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone else's Social Security number, or confidential business information, such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov.
• If you want to submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made available to the public, submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner detailed (see “Written/Paper Submissions” and “Instructions”).

Written/Paper Submissions

Submit written/paper submissions as follows:

• Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier (for written/paper submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
• For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified, as confidential, if submitted as detailed in “Instructions.”

Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No. FDA-2017-N-0084 for “Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Adverse Event Program for Medical Devices (Medical Product Safety Network (MedSun)).” Received comments, those filed in a timely manner (see ADDRESSES), will be placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as “Confidential Submissions,” publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

• Confidential Submissions—To submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states “THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.” The Agency will review this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in its consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the claimed confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be available for public viewing and posted on https://www.regulations.gov. Submit both copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish your name and contact information to be made publicly available, you can provide this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of your comments and you must identify this information as “confidential.” Any information marked as “confidential” will not be disclosed except in accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other applicable disclosure law. For more information about FDA's posting of comments to public dockets, see 80 FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or access the information at: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-09-18/pdf/2015-23389.pdf.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in the heading of this document, into the “Search” box and follow the prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Amber Sanford, Office of Operations, Food and Drug Administration, Three White Flint North, 10A-12M, 11601 Landsdown St., North Bethesda, MD 20852, 301-796-8867, PRAStaff@fda.hhs.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal Agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. “Collection of information” is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c) and includes Agency requests or requirements that members of the public submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a third party. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)) requires Federal Agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, FDA is publishing notice of the proposed collection of information set forth in this document.

With respect to the following collection of information, FDA invites comments on these topics: (1) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of FDA's functions, including whether the information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of FDA's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques, when appropriate, and other forms of information technology.

Adverse Event Program for Medical Devices (Medical Product Safety Network (MedSun))

OMB Control Number 0910-0471—Extension

Section 519 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 360i) authorizes FDA to require (1) manufacturers to report medical device-related deaths, serious injuries, and malfunctions; and (2) user facilities to report device-related deaths directly to manufacturers and FDA and serious injuries to the manufacturer. Section 213 of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 (Pub. L. 105-115) amended section 519(b) of the FD&C Act relating to mandatory reporting by user facilities of deaths, serious injuries, and serious illnesses associated with the use of medical devices. This amendment legislated the replacement of universal user facility reporting by a system that is limited to a “. . . subset of user facilities that constitutes a representative profile of user reports” for device-related deaths and serious injuries. This amendment is reflected in section 519(b)(5)(A) of the FD&C Act. This legislation provides FDA with the opportunity to design and implement a national surveillance network, composed of well-trained clinical facilities, to provide high-quality data on medical devices in clinical use. This system is called the Medical Product Safety Network (MedSun).

FDA is seeking OMB clearance to continue to use electronic data collection to obtain the information on Form FDA 3500A (approved under OMB control number 0910-0291) related to medical devices and tissue products from the user facilities participating in MedSun, to obtain a demographic profile of the facilities, and for additional questions, which will permit FDA to better understand the cause of reported adverse events. Participation in the program is voluntary and includes approximately 300 facilities.

In addition to collecting data on the electronic adverse event report form, MedSun collects additional information from participating sites about reported problems emerging from the MedSun hospitals. This data collection is also voluntary and is collected on the same website as the report information.

The burden estimate is based on the number of facilities participating in MedSun (300). FDA estimates an average of 18 reports per site annually. This estimate is based on MedSun working to promote reporting in general from the sites, as well as promoting reporting from specific parts of the hospitals, such as the pediatric intensive care units, the electrophysiology laboratories, and the hospital laboratories.

FDA estimates the burden of this collection of information as follows:

Our estimated burden for the information collection reflects an overall decrease of 113 hours despite a corresponding increase of 1,650 responses. We attribute this adjustment to an increase in the number of submissions we received over the last few years but a decrease in the amount of time spent entering data due to IT efficiencies that have been built into the MedSun reporting system to reduce data entry by user facilities.