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The federal government is preparing to aggressively crack down on hospitals for not reporting complete COVID-19 data daily into a federal data system, according to internal documents obtained by NPR. The draft guidance, expected to be sent to hospitals this week, also adds new reporting requirements, asking hospitals to provide daily information on influenza cases, along with COVID-19. It's the latest twist in what hospitals describe as a maddening flurry of changing requirements, as they deal with the strain of caring for patients during a pandemic. (Huang and Simmons-Duffin, 9/24)

HHS on Saturday released reporting requirements for healthcare providers that received COVID-19 grant funds. Providers that received more than $10,000 in grants will have to report on how they spent funds on coronavirus-related expenses and lost revenue. HHS previously delayed statutorily required reporting deadlines, and the guidance was released more than a month later than was originally expected to allow time for provider feedback, the agency said. (Cohrs, 9/21)

As schools reopen and cold weather heightens the likelihood of a spike in coronavirus cases, nurses and doctors fear that shortages of the respirator masks, surgical gowns and disposable gloves needed to shield them from infection will return with a vengeance. President Trump has sweeping powers to compel companies to produce protective gear and to guarantee that the federal government will pay them for it — and as his election campaign intensifies, he has been boasting about aggressively using them. But in fact, most of his administration’s use of that authority, granted under the Cold-War Defense Production Act, has had nothing to do with the pandemic. (Jacobs, 9/22)