CDC Director Robert Redfield and HHS Chief Information Officer Jose Arrieta provided an update for the media on HHS efforts to gather and disseminate real-time hospital data on COVID-19. Below are their statements as prepared for delivery.(July, 15, 2020.)
(Editors note: This news conference was held in response to reports that the administration was requiring that COVID-19 dfata be submitted directly to HHS, instead of the CDC.)
(Excerpts from Dr.Redfield's statement:
"We at CDC know that the lifeblood of public health is data. Collecting and disseminating that data as rapidly as possible is our top priority, and the reason for the policy change we’re discussing today.
As many of you know, CDC operates a system called the National Health Safety Network. This is an important surveillance system in our nation’s hospitals, which focuses on fighting antibiotic resistance.
In April, HHS leaders, with input from CDC, created a new system, called HHS Protect, that allows us to combine data through systems like NHSN, as well as other public and private sources. The data reported from hospitals that went into HHS Protect either came through the NHSN, directly to HHS Protect from the states, or through a system called TeleTracking.
What we have now asked is that, going forward, states provide data from hospitals directly through the TeleTracking system or directly to the HHS Protect system.
