Change in federal COVID-19 data collection ‘abrupt,’ doubles the work, Cohen says
The Trump Administration’s new mandate that hospitals must send information about coronavirus hospitalizations and equipment directly to a new federal database, rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, caught North Carolina health officials off-guard, Dr. Mandy Cohen said Thursday.
Cohen, secretary of the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, called the decision “abrupt” and unexpected. She said it has increased the workload of health officials at a time when the state is trying to remain transparent with the public on COVID-19 information.
“We will continue to be transparent at the state level, but I think it always helps for us to be able to compare to what’s going on in other states and understand where we fit into the national landscape,” Cohen said Thursday in a press conference.
Since the pandemic began in early March, hospital data on COVID-19 — total hospitalizations, available intensive care beds, personal protective equipment — has been sent to the CDC through the National Healthcare Safety Network it launched 15 years ago.
North Carolina has reported that data to the federal government on behalf of hospitals, Cohen said.
“It’s been a great collaborative relationship,” Cohen said. “This is a very abrupt change. I don’t think we got any warning that it was coming.”
With the change, hospitals now will report the data to a new federal database operated by Pittsburgh-based TeleTracking Technologies. In April, the government awarded TeleTracking a $10.2 million contract to work on data collection with the federal Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, The Associated Press reports.
The CDC will continue to collect other data, like information about cases and deaths, from state health departments, The AP reported.
Michael Caputo, an HHS spokesman, told The AP the CDC has experienced delays in getting data from hospitals. The new workflow is intended to get reports more quickly and thoroughly, he told The AP.
The new federal HHS database is not available to the public, according to US News & World Report, which said it would hamper health officials who rely on such data in making projections and decisions at the state level.
An NPR report noted that infectious disease and health care experts have questioned the change. They believe it will hinder and slow the CDC, the nation’s public health agency, from efficiently gathering and analyzing the data.
The Trump Administration’s mandate allows hospitals who already are directly reporting to state health departments to continue to do so.
Cohen said the state’s hospitals will continue to submit COVID-19 data to the state health department, in addition to the federal government, but that the required workload in reporting now would be greater.
“We went from needing to report 30 data elements, to something like 96 data elements overnight,” she said. “That is not something that happens overnight, so we are working hard on that.
“Again, I’m disappointed in the way that it got rolled out in such an abrupt way. I’m all for data efficiency, but I think we needed a bit more lead time to understand what was needed.”
The state DHHS reported Thursday that 1,134 people were currently hospitalized in North Carolina with COVID-19 issues, a slight decrease from Thursday’s total. The state DHHS also reports daily the available inpatient beds and ICU beds.
“I think we all have questions about when that data now is going to the federal government, what visibility will come back and how will they be using that data to give all of us the visibility that I know folks want,” Cohen said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
