This tool serves as a guide for understanding the legal context of public health emergency management on health care providers. It outlines the implications for and health care providers, covering key legal frameworks, including the Public Health Service Act and the Stafford Act, emphasizing their role in facilitating emergency responses during health crises. The tool also discusses the powers granted to federal and state authorities, coordination among agencies, and the importance of maintaining public safety and health during emergencies.
Shared by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), this tool addresses the special medical needs of children, and emphasizes how health care facilities must be prepared for both pediatric and adult victims of bio-terrorism attacks, including those resulting from dispersal of airborne or food borne agents.
This session, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Public Health Law Program and the Coordinating Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response, provides key information on federal public emergency law.
The Ready or Not? report by the Trust for America’s Health offers an independent evaluation of the U.S.’s public health readiness, highlighting progress and areas needing improvement. It reviews state preparedness levels, the federal government’s role, and suggests enhancements for emergency response capabilities. The report promotes accountability in the use of taxpayer funds for health emergency readiness and recommends transitioning to a strategic, capability-focused system for effective response to health crises, including disease, disasters, and bio-terrorism threats. It also emphasizes the need for transparency to allow policymakers to accurately gauge the nation’s preparedness.
To maintain daily operations and patient care services, health care facilities need to develop an Emergency Water Supply Plan (EWSP) to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a total or partial interruption of the facilities’ normal water supply.
Violence against hospital employees is a significant issue with the potential for devastating consequences. Active shooter situations can be premeditated or spontaneous, and hospital employees should always maintain situational awareness and vigilance.
COVID-19 brought about unforeseen challenges and solutions, forever changing the face of emergency readiness. With gritty determination and endless perseverance, you demonstrated day in and day out how valuable you are to keeping our communities safe and healthy.
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This Hospital Evacuation Decision Guide was developed by AHRQ, the lead Federal agency charged with supporting research designed to improve the quality of health care, reduce its cost, address patient safety and medical errors, and broaden access to essential services.
Patients at Ridgecrest Regional Hospital and Bella Sera Skilled Nursing Facility are safe, and both facilities are fully operating except for minor repairs after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake on July 5 and a 6.4 magnitude tremor the day before, both centered near Ridgecrest. After the first quake on July 4, the critical access hospital’s patients were evacuated, but the Emergency Department continued to triage incoming patients, directing them to other facilities as needed. Following the even larger earthquake on July 5, Bella Sera Skilled Nursing Facility lost power and worked with local, regional and state partners to prepare for evacuation, which ultimately wasn’t necessary.
