The Trump administration is expected to publicize the names of hospitals with missing data in the federal pandemic reporting system as early as next week.
Federal officials are targeting hospitals that are not reporting accurate data on COVID-19 patients, shortages of nurses, and the number of available beds, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Some hospitals are doing a fantastic job, and they report into us daily. And some it’s just not consistent, and some, not at all,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma told the Wall Street Journal.
The federal government’s efforts to direct medical supplies to where they are needed most are impaired by incomplete hospital data. Hospitals that do not improve their data reporting face the loss of Medicare and Medicaid payments.
Critics complain that the administration has been inconsistent and inaccurate in tracking which hospitals are reporting data properly. They are also urging the administration not to make public which hospitals are missing data.
“This is being done to put hospitals in an awkward situation when hospitals are trying to comply,” said Chip Kahn, CEO of the trade group Federation of American Hospitals.
Supplying the data requires hospitals to answer 32 questions. The administration plans on publishing a measure on missing data for each data element.
