There are different requirements for the various accrediting bodies and grant requirements. For example, the Hospital Preparedness Program grant may require participation in the Annual Statewide Medical Health Exercise.
ICS 300/400 courses are not a requirement for health care under the “NIMS Implementation for Healthcare Organizations Guidance”.
Hospitals are required to conduct and review their Hazard Vulnerability Analysis (HVA) annually. The HVA is a systematic approach to identifying hazards that may affect demand for the hospitals services or its ability to provide those services. The risks associated with each hazard are analyzed to prioritize planning, mitigation, response and recovery activities. The HVA serves as a needs assessment for the Emergency Management program. This process should involve community partners and be communicated to community emergency response agencies.
Local public health departments, local emergency medical services agencies (LEMSA) and the Department of Homeland Security, are all working together to test readiness for various scenarios. Hospitals should participate in the planning for these events as well as working with the Hazard Vulnerability Analysis for each hospital to coordinate community participation with the specific needs of the hospital.
NIMS courses ICS-100, ICS-200 and IS-700 or their equivalents should be completed by:
Yes, a hospital may utilize a vendor-created or delivered training course. The National Integration Center (NIC) recognizes that many operational aspects of the NIMS, including ICS training, are available through, state, local and tribal training agencies and private training vendors. It is not necessary that the training requirements be met through a federal source.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the NIMS Integration Center is responsible for facilitating the development of national guidelines for incident management training and exercises at all jurisdictional levels, while individual agencies and organizations are responsible for establishing and certifying instructors.
No. Completion of ICS courses by appropriate personnel satisfies two of the 14 NIMS Compliance Objectives for Healthcare Organizations (Objective 5 and Objective 6). The remaining objectives must also be met to make a hospital NIMS compliant.
Maintaining open communication during a disaster is crucial to effective response. Learn more about primary communications channels and how to ensure hospitals have what they need to coordinate response.
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
Yes, during the COVID-19 emergency the state Emergency Medical Services Authority has set up a quick process for hospitals to be able to use health care practitioners licensed in other states. For details, go to https://emsa.ca.gov/covid19/ . (4/10)