The COVID-19 Pandemic Highlights Shortcomings in US Health Care Informatics Infrastructure: A Call to Action

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Vikas O'Reilly-Shah, Emory University; Katherine R. Gentry, University of Washington; Wil Van Cleve, University of Washington; Samir M. Kendale, New York University; Craig Jabaley, Emory University; Dustin R. Long, University of Washington
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-08-01
• Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2020 International Anesthesia Research Society.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1213/ANE.0000000000004945
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Anesthesia & Analgesia
• Volume: 131
• Issue: 2
• Start Page: 340
• End Page: 344
• Grant/Funding Information: Supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) (T32 GM086270-11, D.R.L.).
• Keywords: Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Science & Technology; Anesthesiology; US Health Care; Infrastructure; Informatics

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was designated a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. By that date, hundreds of thousands of people around the globe had been infected, and millions more are expected to suffer physically and economically from the effects of COVID-19. Scientifically, the pace of progress toward understanding the virus has been dramatic and inspiring: the viral genome was rapidly determined,1 and a 3.5-angstrom-resolution cryoelectron microscopy structure of the viral spike protein in prefusion conformation was published within weeks of its identification.2 Initial small trials examining the impact of potential therapeutic agents have also been rapidly published; to date, more than 300 clinical trials have been registered, including several for candidate vaccines.