Today, HIA submitted a response to Senator Cassidy’s RFI on modernizing the CDC. The RFI sought responses on several broad topics including fostering innovation and collaboration, making data work for everyone, improving upon what works well, and mechanisms to modernize.
HIA’s response included several recommendations:
- Authorization of the CDC to establish clear authority and limitations as well as requirements to cooperate with other offices and agencies in the federal government
- Regular, transparent, and public meetings with private sector experts
- Partnership with the private sector to ensure CDC’s success, including developing and operating a modern public health data network through existing technologies
- Ensuring CDC does not try to rebuild private sector capabilities in-house at the agency
- Incorporating real-world data into public health analyses
- Streamlining the grant process to make them more open, accessible, and transparent, as well as including accountability and core competency requirements of state and local public health systems
- Implementing the 2006 law requiring an interoperable network of public health data
- Ensuring bidirectional exchange of public health data
- Including industry-backed standards across the health care system, including standards used at pharmacies where the majority of Americans get their vaccinations