HHS Asks Hospitals to Prioritize Certain Data Fields in COVID-19 Daily Reporting Starting Tomorrow, July 15

Following yesterday’s announcement of changes to its process for collecting daily COVID-19-related data from hospitals, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today asked hospitals to prioritize the reporting of seven data fields starting tomorrow, July 15:

• Previous day's new adult admissions for confirmed COVID-19
• Previous day's new adult admissions for suspected COVID-19
• Total adults hospitalized for COVID - suspected and confirmed
• Total hospitalized for COVID - confirmed only
• Total adults in ICU with COVID - suspected and confirmed
• Total adults in ICU with COVID - confirmed
• Remdesivir doses (field will be available by July 15)

In an email (sample attached) sent to registered users of its TeleTracking portal, HHS states it is prioritizing these seven fields because they inform the agency’s distribution of remdesivir. Going forward, HHS will pull a week’s worth of data each Wednesday to inform its remdesivir distribution efforts. HHS states that remdesivir distributions will not be calculated correctly if data from each day are not reported. In addition, HHS reiterates that it will no longer ask for one-time requests for data to aid in the distribution of remdesivir or any other treatments or supplies. This means that the daily reporting is the only mechanism used for the distribution calculations.

While HHS has prioritized the collection of the seven data fields listed above for this week, the agency notes that it intends to use all of the data fields from a hospital’s daily reporting for various resource allocations. HHS asks hospitals to begin reporting all of the data fields included in yesterday’s guidance on hospital reporting by no later than Wednesday, July 22.

See AHA’s July 13 Special Bulletin for additional details on the options hospitals can use to fulfill HHS’s reporting request. The AHA strongly urges all hospitals to review the announcement and to report the data to HHS as requested. View details under key resources.