by Meghan Maury
Form of the Week: National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). CDC is seeking approval to continue the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) in 2027 and begin a major redesign in 2028. The redesigned survey would shift from primarily interviewer-administered collection to a mixed-mode approach that asks households to respond online or by mail first, with in-person follow-up for some nonresponders, while substantially shortening and simplifying the questionnaires. The change would eliminate many detailed health questions currently collected annually and end the fixed schedule for rotating questions, while retaining core measures of health, disability, insurance coverage and access to care.
Comments due October 19.
Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.
Note: The Take Action tab of dataindex.us provides information about even more surveys, forms, evaluations, and records notices than are listed in your weekly newsletter.
Criminal Justice
Security Threat Assessment for Individuals Applying for a Hazardous Materials Endorsement for a Commercial Driver's License. TSA is renewing the collection used to conduct security-threat assessments for commercial drivers seeking hazardous-materials endorsements, including extensive biographic information, immigration status, criminal history, and fingerprints. TSA is also implementing previously approved enrollment in the FBI’s Rap Back program, which replaces reliance on a one-time fingerprint background check with ongoing notifications to TSA when participating drivers’ fingerprints are associated with new criminal-history information.
Comments due September 21.
Health
Faculty Loan Repayment Program. HRSA is revising its Faculty Loan Repayment Program, which provides loan repayment to health professionals from disadvantaged backgrounds who serve as faculty at health-professions schools. HRSA would replace its “disadvantaged background” assessment with a “vulnerable background” assessment focused specifically on geographic/educational and economic disadvantage. Indicators would include attending under-resourced schools, being a first-generation college student, experiencing educational language barriers, low family income, Pell Grant eligibility, or family receipt of public benefits. The revision also adds forms for employer loan-repayment obligations and twice-yearly verification of participants’ employment.
Comments due October 20.Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies Program Data Collection. HRSA is substantially revising data collection for its Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) grant program, which supports maternal and obstetric care in rural communities. The revised collection would shift from annual aggregate reporting to twice-yearly patient-level data, while reducing the number of measures from 34 to about 25 and reorganizing them around demographics, prenatal care and pregnancy, labor and delivery, postpartum care, health conditions and behaviors, and support services.
Comments due October 19.
Immigration
Application for Cancellation of Removal for Certain Permanent Residents (Form EOIR-42A); and Application for Cancellation of Removal and Adjustment of Status for Certain Nonpermanent Residents (Form EOIR-42B). DOJ's immigration courts are revising the forms used by people in removal proceedings to seek cancellation of removal, eliminating some information EOIR says is not relevant to judges’ eligibility or discretionary decisions. The revisions also broaden a question about how applicants entered the U.S., require applicants to sign and affirm the application when filing rather than later before an immigration judge, and revise instructions and questions to more closely track statutory language.
Comments due October 19.
Food Access
Understanding Participant Experiences in SNAP E&T. USDA is proposing a new qualitative study of how SNAP participants experience work requirements and Employment and Training (E&T) programs. Researchers will conduct in-depth and participant-led “photovoice” interviews in four states, including two with mandatory E&T and two with voluntary programs, examining whether participants understand work requirements, their experiences accessing training and services, and barriers they encounter while navigating SNAP E&T. USDA says the findings will inform recommendations for improving customer service and connecting participants with employment and training services.
Comments due October 20.
Education
Linked Open Data on Credentials. DOL is proposing a new open-data requirement for Strengthening Community Colleges grantees, requiring them to publicly share standardized information about federally funded credentials and competencies using the Credential Transparency Description Language. The data could include credential requirements, skills, costs, delivery methods, occupations and industries served, quality assurances, and outcomes, making credential information easier to find, compare, and reuse.
Comments due October 19.
Data Sharing
IRS and Louisiana Data Matching Agreement. IRS is modifying an existing data-matching agreement used by Louisiana to verify income and determine eligibility and benefit amounts for federally assisted programs. Louisiana can send IRS the names and Social Security numbers of applicants and beneficiaries, and IRS returns detailed unearned-income records, including income type and amount, payer and recipient identifying information, addresses, and account information. Louisiana may run matches monthly for new applicants and annually for all beneficiaries. The modification changes the Louisiana programs participating in the match, with the Department of Children and Family Services no longer participating.
Comments due September 20.OPM and SSA Data Matching Program. OPM is re-establishing a data-matching program with the Social Security Administration to check whether certain federal retirees and survivors remain eligible for benefits that are subject to earnings limits. OPM will send identifying information, including names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth, to SSA, which will return wage and self-employment income, employer information, and a death indicator when applicable. The match covers certain disability retirees, disabled adult-child survivors, FERS annuity-supplement recipients, and CSRS discontinued-service retirees.
Comments due October 20.
Labor/Employment
Benefit Timeliness and Quality. DOL is revising an unemployment-insurance quality-review report to add and clarify codes used to categorize nonmonetary eligibility decisions, including separate codes for noncitizen eligibility and availability issues. The changes are intended to align the quality-review data with separate revisions to states’ unemployment-insurance reporting and do not add the demographic data collection proposed for that related reporting system.
Comments due October 19.
ICYMI
Modifications to the Regulations Implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. DOL is eliminating major disability data and measurement requirements for federal contractors under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. Contractors will no longer be required to invite applicants and employees to voluntarily self-identify as having a disability, maintain data on applicants and hires with disabilities, or measure their workforce against the 7% disability utilization goal. The rule leaves contractors’ statutory affirmative-action obligation in place while eliminating much of the data and benchmarking previously used to determine whether those efforts are actually working.