Former CDC directors: Coordinating our nation's health data will save lives

[nitpicker]

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/597494-former-cdc-directors-coordinating-our-nations-health-data-will-save-lives

Former CDC directors: Coordinating our nation's health data will save lives

BY TOM FRIEDEN, JULIE GERBERDING, JEFFREY KOPLAN, WILLIAM L ROPER AND DAVID SATCHER, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS — 03/10/22 08:31 AM EST

As the SARS-CoV-2 surge recedes, we need to apply the lessons we’ve learned during this pandemic to improve our response to the next health emergency. One major obstacle has been the lack of health data needed to track the pandemic and assess its impact across the complex U.S. healthcare and public health ecosystem. This lack of timely, standardized data hampered our ability to respond rapidly and effectively to the pandemic.

For too long, we have neglected our nation’s public health data infrastructure, much of which is aging, obsolete and insufficient to meet our needs. We need to modernize our entire approach to data, from its collection and reporting to stewardship and management, to how we share it among public health agencies and health systems so that we have the information we need to protect health and save lives.

During our tenure as Centers of Disease Control and Prevention directors over a quarter of a century, each of us recognized the need for more accurate, timely and comprehensive data and each of us made progress toward that goal. But progress was limited because of both lack of funds and lack of legal authority.

As Congress considers the Prepare for and Respond to Existing Viruses, Emerging New Threats, and Pandemics Act (PREVENT Pandemics Act) we urge lawmakers to include specific authorities needed to standardize and coordinate public health data across jurisdictions. This is critical to managing health threats in local communities as well as to provide local, state and federal policymakers with timely, accurate information to inform guidance and policy decisions to protect Americans.
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