By TAYLOR STUCK The Herald-Dispatch
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia health officials remain confident they are still receiving accurate information on the state’s hospitals despite some concerns about how the federal government is now collecting COVID-19 data.
Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch said Monday during Gov. Jim Justice’s press briefing there were some concerns about the change, but thanks to the department’s relationship with the West Virginia Hospital Association, he was confident the state had up-to-date, accurate information on the state’s hospitals and their capacity to respond to the pandemic.
“There’s some concern about the changes, but we are working through those,” Crouch said.
Last week, the Trump administration directed U.S. hospitals to directly report data on COVID-19 patients, medical equipment and other vital information to the Department of Health and Human Services’ data portal, instead of the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network. HHS officials said the CDC’s data reporting infrastructure was outdated, leading to a week-long delay in compiling the information and hampering the U.S. response to the pandemic. …
