Notice2023-22931
Request for Information (RFI): HHS Initiative To Enhance National All Hazards Hospital Situational Awareness
Primary source
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Published
October 18, 2023
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentStrategic Preparedness and Response Administration
Abstract
The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) are seeking broad public input from entities across the health care readiness community on a national, all-hazards standardized set of essential elements of information (EEIs) and vendor-neutral data collection mechanisms for hospital data that drive action for emergency preparedness and response. This input will inform efforts to provide recommendations for a standardized lens into the readiness of, stress on, and resources available in hospitals before, during, and after emergencies
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 200 (Wednesday, October 18, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 200 (Wednesday, October 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71877-71878]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22931]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response
Request for Information (RFI): HHS Initiative To Enhance National
All Hazards Hospital Situational Awareness
AGENCY: Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR),
HHS.
ACTION: Notice of request for information.
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SUMMARY: The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response
(ASPR), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Office of the National
Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) are seeking broad
public input from entities across the health care readiness community
on a national, all-hazards standardized set of essential elements of
information (EEIs) and vendor-neutral data collection mechanisms for
hospital data that drive action for emergency preparedness and
response. This input will inform efforts to provide recommendations for
a standardized lens into the readiness of, stress on, and resources
available in hospitals before, during, and after emergencies
DATES: To be assured consideration, comments on the RFI must be
received on or before December 18, 2023. HHS will not reply
individually to responders but will consider all comments submitted by
the deadline.
ADDRESSES: Please submit all responses via email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#93d2ffffdbf2e9f2e1f7e0d3fbfbe0bdf4fce5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8bcae7e7c3eaf1eaf9eff8cbe3e3f8a5ece4fd">[email protected]</span></a>
within 60 days of publication of this notice as a Word document
attachment or in the body of an email. Include ``All Hazards Hospital
Situational Awareness RFI'' in the subject line of the email.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information, direct
questions to Sayeedha Uddin at (202) 699-1874 or
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a5f6c4dcc0c0c1cdc48bf0c1c1cccbe5cdcdd68bc2cad3"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="0556647c6060616d642b5061616c6b456d6d762b626a73">[email protected]</span></a>.
When submitting comments or requesting information, please include
``All Hazards Hospital Situational Awareness RFI'' in the subject line
of the email.
When submitting comments or requesting information, please include
``All Hazards Hospital Situational Awareness RFI'' in the subject line
of the email.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Respondents may provide information for one
or more of the questions or topic areas listed below, as desired.
Outside of the federal COVID-19 hospital data collection, what
essential elements of information does your entity report or collect
(or plan to report/collect in the future) related to health care
capacity, facility status, stress, supplies, staffing, infrastructure,
and/or other information that is needed to inform hospital emergency
preparedness and response?
What information do you collect internally, including key areas
your leadership monitors for preparedness and response purposes?
What information do you report to other entities, and to whom?
Specifically, consider regular reporting that is required by regulatory
agencies, notifiable disease reporting, payors, as well as time-limited
or voluntary reporting efforts to trade groups and professional
associations.
On what cadence does your entity collect and report these essential
elements of information?
How is information used for driving action in areas such as patient
placement, patient movement, load balancing, equipment/supply
procurement, or other preparedness and response areas? If you are a
reporting entity (ex. hospital), do you know how your data is being
used to create value for your community?
What electronic systems are used to collect the essential elements
of information (e.g., electronic health record systems (EHRs), hospital
operations systems, etc.)? Who are the primary vendors/developers?
What is your expectation for federal government situational
awareness of hospital status, capacity, stress, etc. before, during,
and after a crisis?
Please share any potentially relevant clinical and/or situational
awareness measures, efforts, and/or definitions that might be helpful
to inform this effort (ex. National Emergency Department Overcrowding
Scale (NEDOCS) scores, International Organization for Standards (ISO)
Health informatics--Interoperability of public health emergency
preparedness and response information systems, the Situational
Awareness Network for Emergencies (SANER) Project, etc.).
We are interested in promising practices in specific areas:
Decreasing burden is a core goal of this initiative. Please share
any promising practices related to data automation and/or other ways to
reduce burden of data collection and reporting.
[[Page 71878]]
We recognize data often are sourced from multiple systems. Please
share any promising practices in aggregating and assessing data from
multiple source systems in a cohesive and standard way.
During response incidents, immediate patient care needs, power
outages, and competing priorities can be significant challenges in
maintaining shared situational awareness. Please share any promising
practices for continued reporting during incidents.
We recognize that some healthcare partners have more advanced data
and situational awareness programs while others may have minimal
resources. Please share any promising practices for effectively
leveraging minimal resources.
Please share any ongoing or anticipated challenges with reporting
or collecting data related to hospital capacity, facility status,
hospital stress, supply inventory, or other information that is needed
to inform hospital emergency preparedness and response.
Please share any non-financial resources that would be useful to
improve your reporting capability.
Title: Request for Information on All-Hazards Hospital Data.
Abstract: The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and
Response (ASPR), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Office of the
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) are co-
leading an effort to define the vendor-agnostic technical and policy
infrastructure, standards, and capabilities necessary to support all-
hazard data reporting by all hospitals nationally including
rehabilitation, psychiatric, and long-term care acute care hospitals as
well as those providing acute medical care. This effort will gather
information to provide recommendations for a standardized lens into the
readiness of, stress on, and resources available in hospitals before,
during, and after emergencies (including all-hazard incidents such as
public health emergencies, hurricanes, mass casualty incidents,
infectious disease outbreaks, etc.) for needs across the country. While
this effort is led by federal partners, it is intended to also support
local response efforts. For example, standardized essential elements of
information (EEIs) may help to facilitate coordination across
jurisdictions when load balancing or medical operations coordination
centers are needed. The effort will leverage past efforts and
collaborate with ongoing initiatives across the healthcare situational
awareness sphere, such as the National Biodefense Strategy.
Importantly, this is a nationwide effort for which partner input
across the healthcare readiness community is essential. The healthcare
community rose to increased demands during the COVID-19 public health
emergency, reinforcing their commitment to always providing the highest
quality level of safe care to patients. ASPR, CDC, CMS, and ONC are
committed to working together with partners to help shape the path
forward towards efficient information sharing, minimizing burden and
increasing transparency on how information is used to drive action.
Partners such as jurisdictions, hospital associations, hospitals,
healthcare coalitions, medical operations coordination centers,
transfer centers, nurses, emergency medical services, health
information technology, and more will help to inform the project. ASPR,
CDC, CMS, and ONC will be co-hosting a series of listening sessions in
addition to seeking comments through this RFI.
To date there has been a limited unified, all-hazards understanding
of national level hospital-facility status, capacity, resources, and
capabilities. An all-hazards approach addresses capabilities-based
preparedness to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from
terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies. Existing
efforts have included the COVID-19 hospital data collection, ad-hoc
surveys performed after incidents such as hurricanes, targeted
surveillance systems for specific communicable diseases and/or specific
types of care (ex. Emergency Department (ED) visits), and individual
efforts within jurisdictions. While each existing effort has been
important, data collection efforts are patchwork, crisis-driven, and
not standardized with respect to how EEIs are defined and
operationalized. As a result, the nation continues to lack a
comprehensive, standardized view of the state of the healthcare system
that can be shared across partners at all levels to inform coordinated
action.
In addition to informing nationwide EEIs, input provided will also
be used for related initiatives such as the National Healthcare Safety
Network (NHSN) hospital bed capacity data pilot project, the Health
Level 7 (HL7) Helios Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)
Accelerator, the Medical Countermeasures and Data Information
Technology Ecosystem, and CDC data modernization efforts. Nationwide
EEIs identified through this effort will directly inform updates to the
USCDI+ for Public Health, Situational Awareness, and Emergency Response
dataset, where additional input will be solicited on how to represent
concepts for data exchange purposes. The effort also aligns with
programs across the ASPR Health Care Readiness Portfolio and the CDC
Public Health Emergency Program.
Sherrette A. Funn,
Paperwork Reduction Act Reports Clearance Officer, Office of the
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-22931 Filed 10-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-37-P
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