1. Hospital Preparedness Program
Healthcare Coalitions
Carolyn Elswick, PhD
Healthcare System Preparedness Director
Center for Threat Preparedness
Emergency Preparedness Taskforce Meeting
Charleston, West Virginia
March 8, 2019

2. Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP)
West Virginia uses HPP funds to further its robust emergency preparedness and response platform to protect roughly 1.8 million citizens
HPP funding: 39% decrease since 2013
West Virginia currently has seven highly integrated and functional healthcare coalitions (HCCs), all of which have formal governance structures

3. Existing Healthcare Preparedness Activities
Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP)
Development of healthcare coalitions
Two or more hospitals
Public health
Emergency management organizations
Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
Healthcare Preparedness and Response Capabilities
Foundation for healthcare and medical readiness
Healthcare and medical response coordination
Continuity of healthcare service delivery
Medical surge

4. Critical Role of HCCs
Republican National Convention
Hurricane Harvey
Amtrak Cascades Derailment
Northeast Ohio Regional HCC
Coordinated surge support with 27 medical facilities
Regularly surveyed Healthcare facilities to ensure inventories of specialized equipment, contact information, blood inventories, and bed availability were up-to-date in preparation for over 20,000 Convention visitors
SouthEast Texas Regional Advisory Council (SETRAC) HCC
Coordinated effectively across Houston’s Healthcare system using emergency management systems and communication
Operated catastrophic medical operations center to manage safe hospital evacuations and patient transfers
Washington State’s Northwest Healthcare Response Network
HCC activated the HPP-funded patient tracking system within an hour of the event, facilitating the distribution of 70 patients to nine hospitals across two counties
Reconciled Amtrak’s passenger manifest with the patient tracking system within 24 hours
Success stories are accessible on the HPP homepage:

5. 2019 World Scout Jamboree 24th World Scout Jamboree
July 22 – August 2, 2019
Summit Bechtel Reserve in Glen Jean, West Virginia
Expecting 45,000 Scouts and Scouters from more than 165 countries
Day Visitor passes (Bechtel Summit website)
Planning is underway by DHHR – coordinated by the West Virginia Center for Threat Preparedness
DHHR Health Command activation
It is expected that all of West Virginia’s HCCs will be response-ready for medical surge or evacuation events, especially HCC Regions 1, 3, and 4 due to proximity
2019wsj.org

6. SMARTT to Continuum Transition
State Medical Asset Resource Tracking Tool (SMARTT) to Continuum Transition
Minimal changes to bed tracking section
Pharmacy section
Drug shortages
Training dates to be determined

7. HPP-PHEP Grants Management Transition
ASPR is in the process of assuming responsibility for the grants management functions for HPP; transition takes effect July 2019.
This does not change HPP-PHEP programmatic alignment.
Improved customer service for awardees is the primary goal of this transition
ASPR grants specialists will focus their attention on HPP cooperative agreement administration and will respond to any issues that may arise
Likewise, the CDC grants team can focus attention on the administration of the PHEP cooperative agreements

8. Changes
The Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) has presented several required changes for the grant period.
All HCC inpatient facilities must demonstrate existing transfer agreement specifically to the following specialty care centers:
Pediatric Centers
Trauma and Burn Centers
 Integrate with Regional Pilot Programs:
For those jurisdictions in which a Regional Disaster Health Response System (RDHRS) state level or regional entity has been identified.
HCCs must integrate their planning, training, exercising, response, evaluation, and situational awareness activities.

9. Specialty Surge Annexes
Awardees and HCCs will develop complementary state and coalition-lead annexes to their base surge capacity/trauma mass casualty response plan to manage a large number of casualties with specific needs.
Five annexes will be developed and tested over the course of five years:
Pediatric     FY2019
Burn     FY2020
Infectious Disease     FY2021
Radiation     FY2022
Chemical     FY2023

10. HCC Surge Estimator Tool
HCCs must complete the HCC Surge Estimator Tool to support coalitions in determining surge capacity. Three distinct variables drive rapid development of surge capacity and vary significantly among hospitals.
Use of all available staffed beds, including closed units that could be rapidly reopened with appropriate staff but are otherwise equipped and appropriate for inpatient care.
Use of pre-induction, post anesthesia, and procedural area beds that can be used for temporary inpatient care, usually at an intermediate care (telemetry) or higher level.
Ability to generate space or reduce the number of patients by early discharge of appropriate current inpatients to support surge.

11. HCC Restructuring ASPR indicates that:
All HCCs must designate a lead or co-lead hospital or healthcare organization
All HCCs should fund at least 1.0 FTEs to support the following role requirements:
Clinical Advisor to provide clinical guidance and coordination pertaining to acute medical surge readiness and response for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Emergency (CBRNE) and trauma, burn, and pediatric emergencies. Individual must be:
From the lead or co-lead hospital or health organization
Clinically active
HCC Readiness and Response Coordinator to oversee planning, exercising,
operational readiness, financial sustainability, and evaluation of the HCC.

12. New Funding Formula Funding Formula
Base Amount – $500,000 (states and cities)
Population – awardee’s population proportion – U.S. Census
Risk – Threats and Hazards
Terrorism
Natural disasters
Naturally occurring events
HAZMAT releases
Vulnerabilities
Capacity for providing care
Capacity to surge beds
Vulnerable populations
Access to care
Specialty care
Consequence
Human Impact: the number of people that have been/can be affected by a specific threat/hazard event type.
Potential Event Intensity: an index used to capture the potential for specific threat/hazard events to cause catastrophic damage.
ASPR 2018

13. Center for Threat Preparedness Updates
Hepatitis A Response and Vaccines
Reimbursement of Cost to Scheduling of Payments
Outcome of Partnership for Regional Disaster Health Response System (RDHRS) Competitive Cooperative Agreement Application
Opioid Grants and Activities
LiveProcess Expansion to include Hazard Vulnerability Assessment Component and Expanded Membership
Statewide HPP-PHEP Joint HCC Partners Collaboration Meeting
Exercises and Trainings

14. CTP Staff
CTP Staff: Donnie Haynes, Director Teri Surface, Office Manager Pamela Aultz, Office Assistant III Kristi George, Risk Communications Officer Dianna Gertz, Health Alert Network Coordinator Scott Eubank, Emergency Planner Tony Leach, Volunteer Management and Responder Safety Consultant Linda Lipscomb, PHEP Grants Manager CDC Public Health Associates: Arielle Lippman, CDC Field Assignee Tamara Surtees, CDC Public Health Associate Program Caitlin Cohn, CDC Public Health Associate Program Vacancies: Exercise Coordinator Deputy Director

15. Thank You
Thank you for your time today and all of the work that you do to support the efforts of the ASPR-HPP and the State of West Virginia to create a safe and healthy environment for our citizens. Through our collaborative efforts, we have a response ready healthcare system preparedness program spanning the state that takes action during times of disaster.

16. Contact
Carolyn Elswick, PhD Healthcare System Preparedness Director West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau for Public Health Center for Threat Preparedness 505 Capitol Street, Suite 200 Charleston, West Virginia (304) (304)