Earlier this week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released updated guidance on mandatory COVID-19 reporting to TeleTracking. The guidance makes existing influenza fields mandatory as of December 18 and introduces new measures on hospitals’ inventory and use of therapeutics. Currently, HHS is collecting data on casirivimab/imdevimab and bamlanivab; the expectation is that HHS will add additional fields as new therapeutics become available. Hospitals are required to report certain data elements related to the COVID-19 public health emergency as a Condition of Participation in the Medicare program, as described in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ September interim final rule with comment period.
Influenza fields are submitted daily. Measures on therapeutics are submitted on Wednesdays, with submission optional until January 8, 2021, when the measures become mandatory. Hospitals are encouraged to review TeleTracking’s release notes and the updated template for those using .CSV file upload.
HHS Publishes Hospital-level COVID-19 Data on HealthData.gov
HHS posted hospital-level data on COVID-19 cases and hospital capacity on HealthData.gov. The data is in CSV format on the public-facing site and includes seven-day totals and averages for each hospital’s number of beds for adult, pediatric, intensive care unit, and staffed beds, and seven-day totals and averages for COVID-19 hospitalizations and confirmed influenza. Hospitals across the US and in US territories report data by Medicare CCN. The data presented is derived from hospitals’ mandatory COVID-19 reporting, with data going back to July 15, 2020.
For issues with accessing the TeleTracking portal, please contact TeleTracking Technical Support at (877) 570-6903. Please contact Zeynep Sumer King with questions about COVID-19 and Amy Chin with questions about the reporting.