Hospital Disaster Preparedness

What is a Hazard Vulnerability Analysis?

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.

Cities and counties are also required to prepare HVAs; the hospital HVA should consider hazards identified in the community plans that may impact the hospital. In some communities the hospital and community HVAs are developed together.

Hospitals should develop specific plans for managing the top 3 to 5 hazards they have identified, and should build their training and exercises around managing those hazards.

While there are a number of ways to conduct an HVA, Kaiser Permanente has developed a widely used tool that can help identify and assess the most common hazards.