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Effluent Guidelines
Health Care Industry
Request for Comment on Questionnaires for the Health Care Industry Study: Unused Pharmaceuticals Management
EPA 821-F-08-004; August 2008
Before submitting an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval, EPA is requesting comment on questionnaires for the health care industry. Comments are due by 90 days from publication of the Federal Register Notice.
- Background
- About this Proposed Information Collection
- Environmental and Public Health Benefits
- Burden of this ICR
- How to Get Additional Information
Background
In the final 2006 Effluent Guidelines Program Plan, published in December 2006, EPA announced plans for a study of the health care industry. EPA is very concerned about how pharmaceuticals enter our nation's waterways. To address this issue at the source, EPA needs to first understand the extent of disposal of unused pharmaceuticals into our nation's waterways and the factors that contribute to this. For many years, a standard practice at many health care facilities was to dispose of unused pharmaceuticals by flushing them down the toilet or drain.
About this Proposed Information Collection
EPA is planning to submit a proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). This proposed ICR will cover hospitals, long-term care facilities, and veterinary hospitals via detailed questionnaires. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection. EPA is also soliciting comments on the scope of the ICR. EPA plans to survey hospitals, long-term care facilities, and veterinary hospitals; but is seeking feedback on whether or not to include doctor's offices, veterinary offices, university clinics, and prison clinics.
This proposed ICR includes two detailed questionnaires, one tailored for hospitals and long-term care facilities and the other for veterinary hospitals. EPA plans to collect information on current disposal practices and alternative practices for managing unused pharmaceuticals. In addition, this data will give the types and amounts of unused pharmaceuticals being disposed. To date, there is no known source of this data. The benefit of collecting this data directly from the health care facilities is to highlight alternative disposal methods for medical and veterinary facilities. EPA will use this information to estimate waste generation reductions that the use of Best Management Practices can achieve.
Environmental and Public Health Benefits
EPA hopes to understand why some health care facilities are still disposing of pharmaceuticals down the drain and how EPA can best influence the facilities to manage unused pharmaceuticals properly.
Burden of this ICR
EPA estimates the total industry burden of this ICR at 145,305 burden hours. The total industry burden assumes an average respondent burden of 41 hours to complete the detailed questionnaire. In this case, burden refers to the amount of time EPA expects various respondents would need to read the questionnaire instructions, collect the requested data, and make the necessary certifications to the submission's accuracy.
How to Get Additional Information
For further information regarding the questionnaires, please contact Janet Goodwin (goodwin.janet@epa.gov).
- Federal Register Notice | Print Version (PDF) (112 K, 4 pp.) (August 12, 2008)
- Draft Questionnaires for Unused Pharmaceuticals Disposal in the Health Care Industry
- Hospitals, hospices and Long-term Care Facilities (PDF) (418 K, 29 pp.)
- Veterinary Hospitals (PDF) (493 K, 28 pp.)
- Supporting Statement: Study of Unused Pharmaceuticals from Medical and Veterinary Facilities (PDF) (206 K, 18 pp.)
The proposed questionnaire can be found at Regulations.gov where, in addition to reviewing the questionnaire, you may access the index listing the contents of the docket and submit comments. The ID of the docket for the health care industry detailed study is EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0517. The Federal Register Notice and the questionnaires can also be found.