November 20, 2020
Vizient, Inc., the nation’s largest health care performance improvement company serving a diverse membership that includes academic medical centers, pediatric facilities, community hospitals, integrated health care delivery networks and non-acute health care providers, issued the following statement on the urgent need to allow the President-elect Biden’s transition team access to federal government efforts to combat the coronavirus:
“Vizient believes the magnitude of the COVID-19 crisis requires a coordinated, wide-scale and continuous response from the federal government. We urge the current administration to enable federal officials from across the government to begin formal engagement with members of President-elect Biden’s transition team so that the ongoing response to combating the COVID-19 pandemic continues without interruption.”
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Vizient has worked closely with the current administration to help resolve supply chain issues and other challenges to support our member hospitals in their efforts to access essential medical supplies and equipment. It is important that steps the current administration has taken are seamlessly transitioned to the incoming administration’s plans. This transition is vital to meeting the needs of hospitals as they work to activate their COVID-19 case surge plans, procure essential medical supplies, and care for patients.
Of critical importance is information on the strategy to successfully launch a comprehensive and equitable vaccination distribution plan. Connecting current members of the administration with members of the incoming administration’s transition team would help guard against lapses in the national response moving forward. It would also help ensure that the current public/private partnership, that has been integral in the nation’s response thus far, can continue without interruption.
With so much hard work underway, and much that still needs to be done, Vizient urges the current administration to enable members of the President-elect Biden transition team to begin formal participation in the federal government’s COVID-19 planning.”