Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Administration Orders Hospitals To Bypass CDC With Data On COVID
The New York Times: Trump Administration Strips C.D.C. Of Control Of Coronavirus Data
The Trump administration has ordered hospitals to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and send all Covid-19 patient information to a central database in Washington beginning on Wednesday. The move has alarmed health experts who fear the data will be politicized or withheld from the public. (Gay Stolberg, 7/14)
The Hill: White House Tells Hospitals To Bypass CDC On COVID-19 Data Reporting
Hospitals will begin sending coronavirus-related information directly to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), not the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), under new instructions from the Trump administration. The move will take effect on Wednesday, according to a new guidance and FAQ document for hospitals and clinical labs quietly posted on the HHS website. (Weixel, 7/14)
The Washington Post: New HHS Hospital Reporting Protocols For Covid-19 Data Eliminates CDC As Recipient
In a letter to the nation’s governors that says the National Guard could help improve hospitals’ data flow, HHS Secretary Alex Azar and Deborah Birx, the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force response coordinator, say they ordered the changes because some hospitals have failed to report the information daily or completely. That portrayal, and the involvement of the National Guard, have infuriated hospital industry leaders, who say any data collection problems lie primarily with HHS and repeatedly shifting federal instructions. (Sun and Goldstein, 7/14)
CNN: HHS Confirms Coronavirus Hospital Data Will Now Be Sent To DC Instead Of CDC
Hospital data on coronavirus patients will now be rerouted to the Trump administration instead of first being sent to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to CNN on Tuesday. Michael Caputo, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the department, confirmed the change first reported by The New York Times earlier in the day, saying in a statement that the "new faster and complete data system is what our nation needs to defeat the coronavirus and the CDC, an operating division of HHS, will certainly participate in this streamlined all-of-government response. They will simply no longer control it." (Acosta and Cole, 7/15)
In related news —
The Hill: Coronavirus Testing Czar Pushes Back After Trump Targets Health Officials: 'None Of Us Lie'
The official leading the Trump administration's coronavirus testing efforts on Tuesday rebuffed the notion that health experts are lying after President Trump retweeted a Twitter post saying that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and others were spreading falsehoods about the virus. "We may occasionally make mistakes based on the information we have, but none of us lie," Adm. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of Health and Human Services, said on NBC's "Today." (Wise, 7/14)
