Agencies Collaborate, Shift Work Duties to Fit Pandemic Response

The coronavirus pandemic has required all hands to be on deck in the federal government. To match the president’s call for a whole of government response, federal agencies are shifting strategies and collaborating in new ways to better serve the American people.

Three federal agencies have banded together to develop 3D printing models for masks as hospitals experience severe shortages of this necessary personal protection equipment.

The Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Veterans Affairs have entered into a memorandum of understanding to share lessons learned, data, and technical information on producing masks for health care workers with 3D printers. The federal partnership also coincides with a public-private partnership with nonprofit America Makes for the agencies to connect with medical facilities who are in need of the masks, according to FedScoop.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has modified an existing contract to allow the department to purchase 8,000 ventilators from four vendors worth as much $84 million, according to reports from NextGov. Ventilators have been in significant demand, and short supply, since the pandemic began. The contract switch will allow the DoD to acquire an initial shipment of 1,400 ventilators with delivery by early May. The ventilators are set to be distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) upon their arrival.

In total, the DoD “has processed several hundred contracts and orders related to COVID activities, including everything ranging from transportation, communication to medical supplies,” according to Department of Defense spokesperson Lt. Col. Mike Andrews.

Lt. Col. Andrews also noted that the Defense Logistics Agency has purchased $2 million worth of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies and nearly 1 million gallons of fuel, food, and repair components for the USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy hospital ships that will assist New York City and Los Angeles.  The Defense Threat Reduction Agency helped deliver 3 million COVID-19 test kit swabs nationwide.

On Monday, The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Service (CMMS) announced the expansion of telehealth services offered to Medicare and Medicaid patients. The announcement was part of a larger push for new regulatory changes during the pandemic. The center boasts 80 new telehealth services for patients.

“Today, we're announcing that we're going to go even further and we're going to be paying doctors to make phone calls with their patients and provide care over the phone,” CMMS Administrator Seema Verma announced at a COVID-19 Task Force press briefing Monday afternoon. “And we're getting rid of long-standing barriers to telehealth in the Medicare program, allowing emergency rooms to use telehealth and eliminating requirements that some visits be provided face-to-face.”

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has also sought ways to increase public access to information on air travel restrictions. The FAA introduced a Google heat map on Monday that tracks FAA stations impacted by the coronavirus response. The administration also prepared guidance for state, local, and tribal governments to use when determining appropriate travel restrictions.

Meanwhile, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is helping those stuck in coronavirus confinement with the rollout of new activities, research opportunities, and media available online and on social media.

NASA introduced “NASA at Home” this week to “show and engage you in the agency’s discoveries, research, and exploration from around the world and across the universe – all from the comfort of your own home.”

“We know people everywhere, especially students, are looking for ways to get out of the house without leaving their house,” said Bettina Inclán, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Office of Communications. “NASA has a way for them to look to the skies and see themselves in space with their feet planted safely on the ground, but their imaginations are free to explore everywhere we go. We’ve put that information at their fingertips. We hope everyone takes a few moments to explore NASA at Home.”