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...the House stimulus bill also provides $420 million for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ?to prepare for and respond to an influenza pandemic, including the development and purchase of vaccine, antivirals, necessary medical supplies, diagnostics and other surveillance tools.?
"At the discretion of the Secretary of Health and Human Services," funds can also be used to purchase products to "be deposited in the Strategic National Stockpile? and for ?construction or renovation of privately owned facilities for the production of pandemic influenza vaccine and other biologics, where the Secretary finds such a contract necessary to secure sufficient supplies of such vaccines or biologics.?
Funds also could be authorized to ?be transferred to other appropriation accounts of the Department of Health and Human Services, as determined by the Secretary to be appropriate, to be used for the? purposes specified.
Another $430 million is earmarked "to support advanced research and development," and $150 million "to implement a national action plan to prevent healthcare-associated infections, as determined by the Secretary."
As HSToday.us has been reporting, the escalating problem of hospital acquired infections, or HAIs, some of the most lethal of which have grown resistent to broad-spectrum antiobiotics, is of concern to mass casualty medical care authorities who've said these infections could run rampant during catastrophic events when hospitals are overwhelmed by patients. Fifty million of the $150 million to address HAIs would "be provided to states to implement healthcare-associated infection reduction strategies."
While there are considerable provisions for updating, improving and interconnecting myriad health communications and information infrastructure, there?s nothing that addresses the need to integrate information systems between hospitals? trauma and emergency departments and EMS in order to determine hospitals? bed capacity and capabilities to treat victims of a mass casualty event.
The House stimulus bill does, however, create a new HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology who would be charged with, among other things, "development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that allows for the electronic use and exchange of information and that improves public health activities and facilitates the early identification and rapid response to public health threats and emergencies, including bioterror events and infectious disease outbreaks."
Read more: http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/7019/149/
"At the discretion of the Secretary of Health and Human Services," funds can also be used to purchase products to "be deposited in the Strategic National Stockpile? and for ?construction or renovation of privately owned facilities for the production of pandemic influenza vaccine and other biologics, where the Secretary finds such a contract necessary to secure sufficient supplies of such vaccines or biologics.?
Funds also could be authorized to ?be transferred to other appropriation accounts of the Department of Health and Human Services, as determined by the Secretary to be appropriate, to be used for the? purposes specified.
Another $430 million is earmarked "to support advanced research and development," and $150 million "to implement a national action plan to prevent healthcare-associated infections, as determined by the Secretary."
As HSToday.us has been reporting, the escalating problem of hospital acquired infections, or HAIs, some of the most lethal of which have grown resistent to broad-spectrum antiobiotics, is of concern to mass casualty medical care authorities who've said these infections could run rampant during catastrophic events when hospitals are overwhelmed by patients. Fifty million of the $150 million to address HAIs would "be provided to states to implement healthcare-associated infection reduction strategies."
While there are considerable provisions for updating, improving and interconnecting myriad health communications and information infrastructure, there?s nothing that addresses the need to integrate information systems between hospitals? trauma and emergency departments and EMS in order to determine hospitals? bed capacity and capabilities to treat victims of a mass casualty event.
The House stimulus bill does, however, create a new HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology who would be charged with, among other things, "development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that allows for the electronic use and exchange of information and that improves public health activities and facilitates the early identification and rapid response to public health threats and emergencies, including bioterror events and infectious disease outbreaks."
Read more: http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/7019/149/