[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 200 (Wednesday, October 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71877-71878]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22931]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response


Request for Information (RFI): HHS Initiative To Enhance National 
All Hazards Hospital Situational Awareness

AGENCY: Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), 
HHS.

ACTION: Notice of request for information.

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SUMMARY: The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response 
(ASPR), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for 
Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Office of the National 
Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) are seeking broad 
public input from entities across the health care readiness community 
on a national, all-hazards standardized set of essential elements of 
information (EEIs) and vendor-neutral data collection mechanisms for 
hospital data that drive action for emergency preparedness and 
response. This input will inform efforts to provide recommendations for 
a standardized lens into the readiness of, stress on, and resources 
available in hospitals before, during, and after emergencies

DATES: To be assured consideration, comments on the RFI must be 
received on or before December 18, 2023. HHS will not reply 
individually to responders but will consider all comments submitted by 
the deadline.

ADDRESSES: Please submit all responses via email to [email protected] 
within 60 days of publication of this notice as a Word document 
attachment or in the body of an email. Include ``All Hazards Hospital 
Situational Awareness RFI'' in the subject line of the email.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information, direct 
questions to Sayeedha Uddin at (202) 699-1874 or 
[email protected].
    When submitting comments or requesting information, please include 
``All Hazards Hospital Situational Awareness RFI'' in the subject line 
of the email.
    When submitting comments or requesting information, please include 
``All Hazards Hospital Situational Awareness RFI'' in the subject line 
of the email.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Respondents may provide information for one 
or more of the questions or topic areas listed below, as desired.
    Outside of the federal COVID-19 hospital data collection, what 
essential elements of information does your entity report or collect 
(or plan to report/collect in the future) related to health care 
capacity, facility status, stress, supplies, staffing, infrastructure, 
and/or other information that is needed to inform hospital emergency 
preparedness and response?
    What information do you collect internally, including key areas 
your leadership monitors for preparedness and response purposes?
    What information do you report to other entities, and to whom? 
Specifically, consider regular reporting that is required by regulatory 
agencies, notifiable disease reporting, payors, as well as time-limited 
or voluntary reporting efforts to trade groups and professional 
associations.
    On what cadence does your entity collect and report these essential 
elements of information?
    How is information used for driving action in areas such as patient 
placement, patient movement, load balancing, equipment/supply 
procurement, or other preparedness and response areas? If you are a 
reporting entity (ex. hospital), do you know how your data is being 
used to create value for your community?
    What electronic systems are used to collect the essential elements 
of information (e.g., electronic health record systems (EHRs), hospital 
operations systems, etc.)? Who are the primary vendors/developers?
    What is your expectation for federal government situational 
awareness of hospital status, capacity, stress, etc. before, during, 
and after a crisis?
    Please share any potentially relevant clinical and/or situational 
awareness measures, efforts, and/or definitions that might be helpful 
to inform this effort (ex. National Emergency Department Overcrowding 
Scale (NEDOCS) scores, International Organization for Standards (ISO) 
Health informatics--Interoperability of public health emergency 
preparedness and response information systems, the Situational 
Awareness Network for Emergencies (SANER) Project, etc.).
    We are interested in promising practices in specific areas:
    Decreasing burden is a core goal of this initiative. Please share 
any promising practices related to data automation and/or other ways to 
reduce burden of data collection and reporting.

[[Page 71878]]

    We recognize data often are sourced from multiple systems. Please 
share any promising practices in aggregating and assessing data from 
multiple source systems in a cohesive and standard way.
    During response incidents, immediate patient care needs, power 
outages, and competing priorities can be significant challenges in 
maintaining shared situational awareness. Please share any promising 
practices for continued reporting during incidents.
    We recognize that some healthcare partners have more advanced data 
and situational awareness programs while others may have minimal 
resources. Please share any promising practices for effectively 
leveraging minimal resources.
    Please share any ongoing or anticipated challenges with reporting 
or collecting data related to hospital capacity, facility status, 
hospital stress, supply inventory, or other information that is needed 
to inform hospital emergency preparedness and response.
    Please share any non-financial resources that would be useful to 
improve your reporting capability.
    Title: Request for Information on All-Hazards Hospital Data.
    Abstract: The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and 
Response (ASPR), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Office of the 
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) are co-
leading an effort to define the vendor-agnostic technical and policy 
infrastructure, standards, and capabilities necessary to support all-
hazard data reporting by all hospitals nationally including 
rehabilitation, psychiatric, and long-term care acute care hospitals as 
well as those providing acute medical care. This effort will gather 
information to provide recommendations for a standardized lens into the 
readiness of, stress on, and resources available in hospitals before, 
during, and after emergencies (including all-hazard incidents such as 
public health emergencies, hurricanes, mass casualty incidents, 
infectious disease outbreaks, etc.) for needs across the country. While 
this effort is led by federal partners, it is intended to also support 
local response efforts. For example, standardized essential elements of 
information (EEIs) may help to facilitate coordination across 
jurisdictions when load balancing or medical operations coordination 
centers are needed. The effort will leverage past efforts and 
collaborate with ongoing initiatives across the healthcare situational 
awareness sphere, such as the National Biodefense Strategy.
    Importantly, this is a nationwide effort for which partner input 
across the healthcare readiness community is essential. The healthcare 
community rose to increased demands during the COVID-19 public health 
emergency, reinforcing their commitment to always providing the highest 
quality level of safe care to patients. ASPR, CDC, CMS, and ONC are 
committed to working together with partners to help shape the path 
forward towards efficient information sharing, minimizing burden and 
increasing transparency on how information is used to drive action. 
Partners such as jurisdictions, hospital associations, hospitals, 
healthcare coalitions, medical operations coordination centers, 
transfer centers, nurses, emergency medical services, health 
information technology, and more will help to inform the project. ASPR, 
CDC, CMS, and ONC will be co-hosting a series of listening sessions in 
addition to seeking comments through this RFI.
    To date there has been a limited unified, all-hazards understanding 
of national level hospital-facility status, capacity, resources, and 
capabilities. An all-hazards approach addresses capabilities-based 
preparedness to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from 
terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies. Existing 
efforts have included the COVID-19 hospital data collection, ad-hoc 
surveys performed after incidents such as hurricanes, targeted 
surveillance systems for specific communicable diseases and/or specific 
types of care (ex. Emergency Department (ED) visits), and individual 
efforts within jurisdictions. While each existing effort has been 
important, data collection efforts are patchwork, crisis-driven, and 
not standardized with respect to how EEIs are defined and 
operationalized. As a result, the nation continues to lack a 
comprehensive, standardized view of the state of the healthcare system 
that can be shared across partners at all levels to inform coordinated 
action.
    In addition to informing nationwide EEIs, input provided will also 
be used for related initiatives such as the National Healthcare Safety 
Network (NHSN) hospital bed capacity data pilot project, the Health 
Level 7 (HL7) Helios Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) 
Accelerator, the Medical Countermeasures and Data Information 
Technology Ecosystem, and CDC data modernization efforts. Nationwide 
EEIs identified through this effort will directly inform updates to the 
USCDI+ for Public Health, Situational Awareness, and Emergency Response 
dataset, where additional input will be solicited on how to represent 
concepts for data exchange purposes. The effort also aligns with 
programs across the ASPR Health Care Readiness Portfolio and the CDC 
Public Health Emergency Program.

Sherrette A. Funn,
Paperwork Reduction Act Reports Clearance Officer, Office of the 
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-22931 Filed 10-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-37-P