FDA Probes Minds: Comment on Behavioral Health Data Collection
Published Date: 2/18/2026
Notice
Summary
The FDA is asking for approval to keep collecting information that helps them understand how people think and behave about health topics. This info guides their decisions and communications, affecting patients, healthcare pros, and consumers. Comments on this plan are open until March 20, 2026, with no new costs expected.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
Research Covers Drug Safety and Misinformation
FDA will use these social and behavioral methods to study topics including nonmedical use of approved drugs; use of unapproved and falsified (counterfeit) drug products; use of botanical substances (e.g., cannabis-derived products); controlled substance prescribing decisions; bystander response to drug overdoses; and potentially false or misleading information about drug products. These studies are meant to gather perceptions and behaviors from specific target populations to inform whether further research or action is needed.
FDA Keeps Running Short Health Surveys
The FDA asked OMB to renew a data collection that supports about 25 social and behavioral studies per year. The collection estimates 126,770 responses annually at 0.25 hours (15 minutes) each, totaling 31,693 hours per year, an increase of 17,300 responses and 4,325 hours versus the prior estimate; patients, healthcare professionals, and consumers may be asked to take these short interviews or surveys.
No Respondent Monetary Costs Expected
FDA states there are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs associated with this information collection. The Agency does not expect respondents to incur monetary costs from participating in these surveys and interviews.
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Key Dates
Department and Agencies
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