10 things to know about Palantir and TeleTracking, which power the HHS COVID-19 data system

The Trump administration directed hospitals to send COVID-19 data directly to HHS instead of the CDC on July 10, which hospitals had been doing for the past several months.

The agency has a federal contract with Palantir Technologies to power the platform that aggregates data for the project, called HHS Protect.

Here are five things to know about Palantir:

1. Peter Thiel founded Palo Alto, Calif.-based Palantir in 2004 as a big data and analytics company.

2. The company aims to go public in the near future. On July 1, Palantir filed a Form D that noted it was raising $961 million, with $549 million already raised. The company has a $26 billion valuation.

3. Palantir's system aggregates information on the spread of COVID-19 on behalf of HHS, according to a report in Science Magazine. The system has more than 225 data sets, including demographic statistics and state-provided data.

4. The National Health Service in Britain awarded Palantir a $1.3 million contract extension to work on its COVID-19 data store, according to CNBC. The company's initial contract went from March 28 to June 11, and the extension will last for four months.

5. Palantir also has a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as the U.S. military and national security agencies. In June, Palantir also partnered with a Japanese company, which invested $500 million in Palantir, to launch a real data platform for security, health and well-being.

Here are five things to know about TeleTracking:

1. Founded in 1991, TeleTracking has primarily focused on developing an operating platform for efficient hospital patient flow. Because it has collected so much data, the company has also built an analytics platform for healthcare operations.

2. In April, TeleTracking received a $10.2 million non-competitive contract from HHS to power the agency's COVID-19 data tracking system, HHS Protect.

3. Michael Zamagias is the chairman and CEO of TeleTracking. He joined the company in 1991 and has been an integral part in its growth into a multimillion-dollar business. Christopher Johnson is president of the company. He has a background as chief technology officer of GE Healthcare's asset management, patient flow and hospital operations management platforms.

4. The TeleTracking platform will gather the information that then goes to HHS Protect.

5. During the pandemic, TeleTracking worked with hospital clients to optimize its patient flow solutions and products that included a capacity census and epidemiology dashboard, to give real-time visibility into the health system. The information helped hospitals manage bed capacity and make operational decisions.