Over the past several weeks, we have watched as President-Elect Joe Biden has announced his cabinet nominees and other senior officials. He has done it one major area at a time. The health nominees and appointees can be found here. They are an impressive, well qualified team.

• • Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) – Xavier Becerra
  • Surgeon General – Vivek Murthy
  • Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – Rochelle Walensky
  • COVID-19 Equity Task Force Chair – Marcella Nunez-Smith
  • Chief Medical Advisor on COVID-19 to the President – Anthony Fauci

The CDC appointment may be one of the most important and consequential of all given the pandemic and how confidence in the CDC has eroded over the past year. Dr. Rochelle Walensky is ready to turn that around and I for one am both excited and optimistic. You can get a sense of who she is and how she will lead the CDC in a recent In The Bubble with Andy Slavitt interview: Meet the New CDC Director (with Rochelle Walensky).

Getting the pandemic under control is the top priority of the new administration. Biden has outlined a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan that includes more than $400 billion to fight the pandemic directly. The COVID-19 portion includes $20 billion for a national vaccine plan, launching community vaccination centers, deploying mobile vaccination units in hard-to-reach areas, $50 billion for testing expansion, funding 100,000 public health workers for vaccine outreach and contact tracing, funding for health services in underserved populations, and $10 billion for pandemic supplies.

We all know that health IT is critical to healthcare transformation. In a December 15^th letter to President-Elect Joe Biden, HIMSS identified the following as key health priorities for 2021 and beyond and pledged to diligently work with Biden and his administration on the issues that require immediate action beginning in 2021.

• • Develop and Implement a Nationwide COVID-19 Strategy Supported by Modern Health Information and Technology Solutions
  • Adopt a Permanent Expansion of Telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring Technologies and Services
  • Modernize Our Public Health Data Infrastructure
  • Heighten Our Nation’s Focus on Health Equity
  • Undertake Development of a National Patient Identification Strategy
  • Reaffirm Our National Commitment to Expanding Interoperability and Health Data Exchange
  • Bolster Our Nation’s Cyber Defenses Related to the Healthcare Infrastructure
  • Capitalize on Health Information and Technology to Apply Innovations to Care Delivery

You can learn more about HIMSS public policy and advocacy work here.

While I believe that all 8 priorities HIMSS outlined are critical, a few are of particular interest at this time – those focused on a nationwide COVID-19 strategy, our public health data infrastructure, and health equity.

With all the concerns about the first month of vaccine distribution, this excerpt from the HIMSS letter on the need for a nationwide COVID-19 strategy supported by modern health information and technology solutions highlights the role technology has played and will continue to play as we address the pandemic:

A coordinated, standardized and uniform federally-led approach for the entire US, rather than different actions and practices across 56 states and territories, would be most helpful to all stakeholders. Our members are prepared to help by ensuring that health information and technology systems are appropriately positioned to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines. We are working across states to use technology solutions to share vaccine information in a standardized manner among relevant stakeholders, track those who did and did not receive vaccines and report on vaccination rates across communities. In addition, health information systems are integral to fortifying supply chains, including vaccines, testing tools, ancillary supplies and personal protective equipment. Most importantly, we can rely on health information and technology systems to assist the tracking of patient outcomes and any adverse events. Overall, public and private health information and technology systems should be seen as the engines that collect reliable COVID-related data that drive decision-making at the federal level that can, in turn, uniformly advise states, localities, tribal and territorial healthcare, and other stakeholders on the most appropriate responses.  

2020 was a year we all wanted behind us. But there is nothing magical about turning the calendar page on January 1^st. We still have much work ahead of us.

With COVID cases still surging, masks still politicized, and vaccine distribution not going as well or as fast as we would have hoped and expected, it can be discouraging. And that’s just the pandemic. Our healthcare ecosystem is far more than the pandemic. I am optimistic about the future with these national health leaders along with other health experts on the COVID-19 Task Force and the White House COVID-19 Response Team. I am ready in my own work to make whatever contributions I can for a better, brighter, healthier, and equitable future for all.

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