The network would let parts of the health system share information during emergencies. It still hasn’t been planned, even after the communication and data-sharing failures put on display during the pandemic.
A 2006 order to HHS from Congress to better integrate U.S. data management systems could have minimized communication failures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In early 2020, as they tried to fight covid-19 across two rural counties in North Carolina, the staff of Granville Vance Public Health was stymied, relying on outdated technology to track a fast-moving pandemic.
Since 2006, federal officials have been charged with setting up a network to let various parts of the U.S. health system share information during emerge.