National Testing Implementation Forum to gather input on COVID-19 in the U.S.

A new program — the National Testing Implementation Forum — announced by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this week will gather input from private stakeholders across the U.S. to inform federal testing and diagnostics efforts for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The Forum will seek to increase public health laboratory capacity, establish a national surveillance strategy using Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) and non-CLIA assets months after the pandemic first spread, push new techniques and technologies, and improve technical assistance. Members will provide perspectives on how best to identify and address those needs, as well as testing supply chain issues.

“This is an important initiative to improve collaboration in the advancement of innovation in SARS-CoV-2 testing,” Adm. Brett Giroir, M.D., the assistant secretary for health, said. “Gaining private sector input is critical, bringing novel technologies into widespread use by the public health and commercial sectors.”

While not an official federal advisory committee, HHS says the Forum will help improve communications for all involved. Commercial, public health, academic and other sectors will participate. Among the things they could tackle together are a national lab testing reporting system, defined reporting standards, sample pooling and targeted testing to guarantee a public health system that reaches the most vulnerable.

Forum participation will rotate, including on the federal side. While the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health will lead the Forum, other federal agencies involved will include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.