White House came under fire last month when it told hospitals to bypass the CDC and report data instead to the Department of Health and Human Services
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is reversing course on a change to the way hospitals report critical information on the coronavirus pandemic to the government, returning the responsibility for data collection to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Read on:Rule change in how hospitals report coronavirus data to the government comes under fire
Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus coordinator, told hospital executives and government officials in Arkansas this week that the current system under which hospitals report new cases is “solely an interim system” and that the reporting would soon go back to the CDC.
“CDC is working with us right now to build a revolutionary new data system so it can be moved back to the CDC, and they can have that regular accountability with hospitals relevant to treatment and PPE,” she said, referring to personal protective equipment used by doctors and nurses.