HHS has failed to present to Congress a strategic plan for setting up and assessing an electronic information network for use in a catastrophic public health event, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Dec. 17, Modern Healthcare reports.
Under the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006, HHS is required to work with state, local and tribal public health officials to develop a "strategic plan for the establishment and evaluation of an electronic nationwide public health situational awareness capability." GAO found that the agency has not defined goals, objectives and priorities to meet the law's requirements (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 12/20).
Although the department missed its 2007 deadline to submit a comprehensive strategy, the report noted that HHS has made progress on creating related capabilities, such as the BioSense syndromic surveillance program and the Nationwide Health Information Network.
HHS officials neither agreed nor disagreed with the report (Lipowicz, Federal Computer Week, 12/20).