“The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking formal approval for the portal it created on an emergency basis to collect daily COVID-19 data from about 5,500 hospitals.”
“HHS posted an information collection request (ICR) Friday in the Federal Register for its Teletracking COVID-19 Portal, which replaced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) collecting hospital coronavirus data in July.”
“The portal allows hospitals to directly report coronavirus data requested by HHS on patients tested, bed capacity and supply requirements. The data then informs the government’s understanding of the spread and helps craft prevention and control policies.”
“’We acknowledge the burden placed on many hospitals, including resource constraints, and have allowed for some flexibilities, such as back-submissions or submitting every business days, with the understanding that respondents may not have sufficient staff working over the weekend,’ reads the request. ‘It is our belief that collection of this information daily is the most effective way to detect outbreaks and needs for federal assistance over time, by hospital and geographical area, and to alert the appropriate officials for action…'” Read the full article here.
Source: HHS seeks formal approval for emergency COVID-19 portal – By Dave Nyczepir, January 25, 2021. FedScoop.
