Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials urged lawmakers today to fund an existing data modernization initiative that they say would have led to faster detection and tracking of coronavirus as it spread across the country.
“The CDC’s Public Health Data Modernization Initiative is designed to invest in new and upgraded technologies that detect, track and analyze trends around disease outbreaks.”
“Officials told members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies that updating the agency’s core data reporting, analysis and surveillance capabilities to better track emerging health threats is one of their highest budget priorities.”
“Efforts include modernizing current software systems and tools, increasing interoperability with stakeholder systems, coordinating IT investments and expanding public and private partnerships to monitor the spread of viruses and other health issues. Another initiative …”
“Under the status quo, Arias said the agency has a “delay in finding out what is happening and who it is happening to,” citing “unfortunate barriers that the current systems have with getting that information from health-care providers, from states, that we can use to engage in that response earlier.”
“Volume is an issue too, with Arias estimating that CDC’s public health data systems are only capable of handling about 75% of the data coming in from states and other sources, and that percentage will only go down in the coming years if requested updates aren’t funded and implemented.”
“The modernization initiative is expected to take place over multiple years and budget cycles…” Read the full article here.
Source: CDC: Data modernization would have improved coronavirus detection, tracking – By Derek B. Johnson, March 10, 2020. FCW.
