White Home to healthcare facilities: Bypass CDC, report COVID-19 information directly to HHS

[Updated: This story has been updated to add input from an HHS spokesperson on hospitals’ participation in the system.]

The Trump administration has actually directed health centers to stop reporting COVID-19 data to the Centers for Disease Control and Avoidance’s National Healthcare Safety Network.

Rather, starting Wednesday, they have actually been informed to send out capability and usage info– including patient numbers, remdesivir stock and bed and ventilator usage rates– to the U.S. Department of Health and Person Providers through the new HHS Safeguard system.

On a press call Wednesday, CDC Director Dr. Robert R. Redfield said that the change had actually been made with the CDC’s support.

” We at CDC know that the lifeblood of public health is information,” stated Redfield, adding that gathering and distributing data “is our leading concern and the factor for the change.”

He stressed: “No one is taking access or information far from the CDC.”

Readfield noted that about 1,000 CDC experts will continue to have access to the raw information from healthcare facilities. “This access is the exact same today as it was the other day,” he stated.

The American Medical facility Association, on the other hand, has told its members to report the details to HHS as asked for.

In a unique publication, AHA “highly” urged medical facilities to examine the brand-new procedures and “report the information to HHS as asked for.”

AHA kept in mind that “HHS stressed in the announcement the importance of reporting the asked for information daily to inform the Administration’s continuous action to the pandemic, including the allotment of products, treatments and other resources.

” In addition, the agency notes it will no longer ask for one-time ask for information to help in the circulation of remdesivir or any other treatments or materials. This means that the daily reporting is the only system used for the circulation computations.”

According to an HHS spokesperson, involvement in the information sharing is voluntary for medical facilities.

As reported by The New York Times, the new information submission expectations appeared in a little-noticed document with COVID-19 guidance for medical facility reporting and a list of FAQs, dated July 10 and submitted to the HHS site.

WHY IT MATTERS

According to HHS Chief Information Officer José Arrieta, HHS Protect has actually been aggregating data considering that April, with much of that information originating from the CDC.

” During the pandemic it ended up being clear that we required a central way to make information visible to first responders,” stated Arrieta during HHS’ Wednesday press call. “The factor we established the environment is so the folks that work for Dr. Redfield … can log into one system and get access to four billion information components.”

Now, the administration’s brand-new assistance asks healthcare facilities to send day-to-day reports bypassing the CDC-administered National Health care Safety Network entirely.

Medical facilities can do this in one of a number of methods, according to the FAQs: They can release information to their website in a standardized format; they can ask their health IT supplier or other 3rd party to share info straight with HHS; or they can send data through the HHS Secure TeleTracking website.

Health facilities can also submit information to the state for submission on their behalf, the FAQs check out, if “they have gotten a written release from the State and the State has gotten composed accreditation from their [Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response] Regional Administrator to take control of Federal reporting responsibilities.”

Some chosen officials, such as Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, have actually raised questions about TeleTracking, a Pittsburgh-based information firm.

” In early April, ASPR provided a six-month contract for $10 million on a non-competitive basis to TeleTracking to produce an alternate health center reporting pathway to the Department of Health and Human Being Solutions (the Department),” wrote Murray in an open letter to Redfield and ASPR Robert P. Kadlec on June 3.

” The brand-new system appears to create a second mechanism through which hospitals might report the same info currently gathered through NHSN,” Murray continued.

” TeleTracking is simply one of the collection elements within the HHS Protect ecosystem,” said Arrieta, who asserted that handling the information involves 8 different industrial technologies.

Arrieta stated TeleTracking had been utilized to “close the gap” between the number of health centers reporting their information to the CDC and the overall number of medical facilities in the United States. In turn, Redfield stated, NHSN resources could be put toward tracking nursing homes “to supply the best surveillance that we can in our vulnerable population.”

According to Arrieta, the greatest change hospitals will see is relating to additional data elements that might be gathered or requested by HHS. HHS did not respond to follow-up concerns relating to enforcement of the policy.

Neither Arrieta nor Redfield might use a timeline for when the de-identified HHS Protect information would be broadly offered to members of the general public, consisting of journalists; Arrieta stated the top priority would be to provide access to very first responders and officials at the state level.

Both officials likewise worried the value of security, saying that every person with access to HHS Protect is “validated.”

Where testing is worried, healthcare facilities that perform “internal” lab testing or that use certain business labs are asked to report using the HHS Protect System; to offer the data straight to their state, if their state has actually shared a written ASPR alert that reporting requirements are being fulfilled; or to license their health IT supplier or other third party to submit the data to HHS or the CDC.

HHS did not respond to follow-up questions about why submitting info to the CDC is still an option where testing is concerned.

” If all of your COVID-19 testing is sent out to and carried out by State Public Health Laboratories, you do not require to report using the HHS Protect System,” described the FAQs.

A number of public health experts expressed their alarm in reaction to the preliminary announcement– airing issues that putting COVID-19 data in the hands of the HHS suggested that it would be naturally politicized.

” COVID-19 information collection and reporting must be performed in a transparent and credible way and must not be politicized, as these data are the structure that guide[s] our reaction to the pandemic,” stated Infectious Illness Society of America President Thomas M. File on Tuesday.

” Collecting and reporting public health data is a core function of the CDC, for which the company has the necessary experienced experts and infrastructure,” he added. “Positioning medical information collection outside of the management of public health specialists could severely compromise the quality and schedule of data, add an extra burden to already overwhelmed hospitals and add a new difficulty to the U.S. pandemic response,” File continued.

” This choice to get rid of the CDC from its main function and decide toward producing a duplicative, private federal professional will stop the circulation of vital info,” said American Psychological Association President Sandra J. Shullman in a declaration on Wednesday afternoon.

” In current weeks, state reporting had been improving with greater federal support. Now is not the time to alter established procedures that put this crucial details into the hands of the countries’ premier public health experts,” Shullman added. ” COVID-19 data collection efforts should not be politicized and essential data relating to race and ethnic background must continue to be publicly reported.”

THE LARGER PATTERN

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the value of cohesive data-sharing into sharp relief, with the White Home requesting updates on hospital-based COVID testing starting in late March.

However the requirement for tracking of resources and patient numbers has conflicted with technological capacity: Public health agencies and systems frequently rely on manual procedures to send information.

” Every hospital is obligated to report daily their resources tied to COVID– the number of clients remain in ICU beds or on ventilators, for example. That’s a big manual burden; every hospital I understand is computing this by hand, manually entering it into spreadsheets and sharing them with the federal, state and local health agencies,” said former U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra in June. “Copies of spreadsheets are flying hither and thither.”

ON THE RECORD

” The efficiency, accuracy, and timeliness of the data will inform the COVID-19 Job Force choices on capability and resource needs to make sure a completely coordinated effort across America,” read the Frequently asked questions.

” Doing so will also make sure that health centers are not dealing with information overlapping demands from a multitude of Federal, State, Resident, and private celebrations, so that they can spend less time on paperwork and more time on clients. Consistent reporting daily will minimize future urgent ask for information,” they continued.

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.

Twitter: @kjercich

Health Care IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.