The Time is Now for a Common Reporting Platform as Part of Our National Healthcare Preparedness

I had an opportunity to speak on a panel discussion recently, hosted by the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at Texas A&M University, to explore creating shared situational awareness of our healthcare preparedness for future pandemics.

While the topic focused on the future of pandemic preparedness, the majority of the participants, many of which were current or former senior government officials who helped navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, agreed that now is the time to start planning, at a time or relative calm, and that what was built for COVID-19 offers a blueprint for the future. 

TeleTracking had the honor to work with the Department of Health & Human Services, standing at the forefront of the nation’s COVID-19 response, providing never before seen visibility and data insights to healthcare capacity across the country. And, at the time it was, and continues to be, my opinion that the original scope of the plan, specific to COVID-19, was too narrow and should expand beyond the current pandemic to create a sustainable “All Hazards” platform that will benefit the nation for years to come as a means of preparedness in time of pandemic, natural disaster, bioterrorism, or other large-scale event.

Understanding the capacity and operational readiness of the nation’s collective health systems, in real-time, is a critical component to effective response to any natural or man-made crisis and should be considered a matter of healthcare, economic and national security policies.

Chris Johnson, co-CEO of TeleTracking

The efforts made under the original emergency declaration proved the power of the public and private sectors coming together in times of crisis to develop ‘sight’ to what had been a ‘blind’ system of disconnected facilities & providers. I see the next iteration of an “All Hazards” platform not as a system with an on/off switch to be used when we need it, but rather one where federal, state, and local agencies have access to the information they need whenever they need it ongoing.

Fortunately, we’re not starting from scratch; we have the mechanism to expand the platform we developed in 2020 and, at the same time, completely re-imagine how healthcare operational preparedness functions on a national scale. However, as a country we are starting somewhat flat-footed again, having rescinded the mandate to collect this data. Unfortunately, it is generally understood that we are now in a worse position now than before the pandemic from a national viability perspective.

We’ve proven there is a better way for us to operate in a time of crisis. There are, however, a few things that will need to be done differently this time around to make it sustainable and effective in the long-term.

• Participation should be mandated at the federal level and tied to a standard, such as Medicare reimbursement.
• Data collection needs to be fully automated across the more than 1 million available data points. We achieved 75% automation previously. A monumental achievement, but still short of our ambition.
• There must be a standardized framework for the sharing of this data that puts the onus on the technology companies, including the EMRs, and not on the individual healthcare providers.
• Every healthcare provider, not just acute-care facilities, needs to report data to have a full picture of national capacity.
• Data must maintain the same high level of authentication, security and privacy previously achieved.

Where I see significant opportunities that we didn’t have in 2020, is the rapid innovations in artificial intelligence and machine learning. While we achieved our goals based on rules and algorithms at the time, sometimes the rules no longer apply. Adding these capabilities to a next generation data collection platform will make it possible to create better predictive models of critical events, forecasting surges across localized geographies and efficiently and timely allocating funding, equipment, vaccines, therapeutics, and staff. 

Activating a long-term “All Hazards” platform would not only help health systems prepare for what today is the unforeseen, but tomorrow will be the anticipated, but also provide the data and insights needed to make decisions faster, more effectively, and more collaboratively in time of crisis.

While there is still a lot of work to do, both technically and on public policy, to make this a reality, I believe, after participating on this panel with the influential Scowcroft Institute, that some of the most brilliant minds in public service are now realizing that this is an imperative for our nation.

I left the group with a final thought around the old adage that yesterday was the best time to plant a tree, but the next best time is today. In the case of an “All Hazards” platform, I would say that we did plant the tree during COVID-19, we just stopped watering it. The system, like a tree root, is hardy and able to be brought back to life, we just need to add the water to make it grow and we need to put the full force of the federal government behind making this a standard part of our national readiness. I have no doubt we’ll get there, and we’ll be much more prepared, because of what we learned in 2020.