U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Awards $390M for Hospital Preparedness, Tracking Tools

[CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight]

Colleagues,

As reported in iHealthBeat ... Last week, HHS awarded a total of $390.5 million in hospital preparedness and emergency response grants to help hospitals improve
their medical surge capability in the event of a public health
emergency, such as an act of terrorism, disease outbreak or natural
disaster, Modern Healthcare reports ....

Specifically, the grants will be used to develop:

• Interoperable communication systems;
• Systems to track available hospital beds; and
• Pre-registration systems for volunteer health professionals.

The grants also will help facilities develop processes for hospital evacuation and sheltering, fatality management and forming community health care partnerships, HealthLeaders Media).

Regional Awards

The grants were awarded to all states and territories  Health Data Management). HHS allotted additional funding to Chicago, Los Angeles County, New York City and Washington, D.C., to ensure the cities have adequate resources
if a catastrophe should occur.

California received the largest grant, at almost $32 million, while Los Angeles County received an additional $12.3 million (Modern Healthcare, 7/12).

ENJOY!

CC