Little-Known Company Taking Over COVID Data From CDC Might Fall Short, Experts Fear – By Kate Riga and Matt Shuham (TPM) / July 21 2020
Due to a Trump administration order earlier this month, thousands of hospitals will now bypass the CDC and instead funnel their COVID-19-related data to a Pittsburgh-based private technology firm that some experts say could be ill-equipped for the task.
TeleTracking, which specializes in helping hospitals manage patient flow, had never before scored as large a government contract as it did this April when it clinched the $10.2 million deal to become a repository for hospitals’ COVID-19 data, according to government records. Now that the administration has elbowed aside the CDC’s infection tracking system, the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), TeleTracking is being launched from the land of four- and five-figure government contracts to the front lines of tracking the pandemic.
TeleTracking: ‘Unknown,’ ‘Risky,’ ‘Not The Gold Standard’
That has some experts concerned. The company’s track record just doesn’t compare to the CDC’s, said Karen Hoffmann, former president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).
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