Public healthGAO: HHS does not have plan for IT pandemic surveillance

The Health and Human Services (HHS) Department has not developed a strategic plan for a national electronic network for public health situational awareness four years after being told to do so by Congress, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The department has made progress on developing related systems — such as those for biosurveillance, health data exchange and public health information sharing — but has not made progress on a comprehensive plan for situational awareness, GAO said in the 17 December report.

FCW’s Alice Lipowicz reports that GAO auditors concluded that HHS has not fulfilled Congress’ vision for a comprehensive strategy under the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) of 2006. The department missed the 2007 deadline and has not completed the plan to date, although progress has been made in creating related capabilities such as the BioSense syndromic surveillance program and the Nationwide Health Information Network for sharing health data, GAO said.

“HHS has not defined a comprehensive strategic plan that identifies goals, objectives, activities, and priorities and that integrates related strategies to achieve the unified electronic nationwide situational awareness capability required by PAHPA,” the GAO report states.

The legislation was intended to meet the need for efficient sharing of near-real-time information during a public health emergency. HHS was supposed to coordinate with state and local agencies to create a strategy and a national network for monitoring public health electronically in near-real time.