HHS: Hospital COVID-19 Data Reporting will Transition to CDC This December

AHA Special Bulletin
August 17, 2022

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will assume responsibility for the collection of hospital COVID-19 data, beginning in mid-December 2022. According to HHS, hospitals, as well as third parties collecting and reporting data on their behalf, will report data to the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). The reporting of these data is required under a Medicare Condition of Participation (CoP) adopted in 2020.

Key Highlights

HHS’s contract with TeleTracking – which operates the current hospital COVID-19 data reporting portal – expires at the end of 2022.
Hospitals and third parties reporting on their behalf will be required to report data into CDC’s NHSN by mid-December 2022.
The data questions will be unchanged, and NHSN will retain existing third-party collection and reporting options (including health departments, health systems and state hospital associations reporting on hospitals’ behalf).
CDC will open the NHSN portal for test submissions in October.
CDC has a transition website that it will populate with information and guidance on an ongoing basis. CDC also will host training webinars starting in late August.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND

Since 2020, HHS has used a web portal operated by TeleTracking as the primary mechanism for hospitals to collect and report required COVID-19 data. However, TeleTracking’s contract with HHS expires at the end of 2022. As a result, HHS opted to move the responsibility for hospital data reporting to the CDC’s NHSN. The NHSN already is used to collect healthcare-associated infection and health care personnel vaccination data from hospitals for the purposes of CMS’s quality measurement programs.

HHS has indicated that most aspects of the reporting process will remain unchanged, and that the primary change is to the data system. HHS says it will not change or add to the data questions upon which hospitals currently collect. In addition, NHSN will retain existing options for third parties to collect and report data on hospitals’ behalf. These options include:

Health system corporate offices
Jurisdictions (e.g., state health departments)
State hospital associations
Third-party vendors

To support hospitals and other stakeholders in preparing for the transition, CDC has established a transition website that will be updated on an ongoing basis with information, FAQs and other guidance. CDC also intends to open the NHSN portal by October to enable hospitals and third parties the opportunity to test the submission process. Lastly, the CDC also will host three rounds of training webinars, beginning in late August. Registration links are provided on the transition website.

FURTHER QUESTIONS

For information on how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is enforcing the condition of participation for hospitals to report HHS-requested COVID-19 data, see the AHA’s Oct. 6, 2020 Special Bulletin. If you have further questions, contact Akin Demehin, AHA’s senior director of policy, at ademehin@aha.org.