Surge Capacity Assessments and Regionalization Issues

Slide Presentation by Brad Austin, M.P.H.

On June 17, 2003, Brad Austin, M.P.H., made a presentation in the Web-assisted Audioconference entitled Surge Capacity Assessments and Regionalization Issues. The User Liaison Program (ULP) of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) developed and sponsored the program.

The is the text version of Mr. Austin's slide presentation.

National Bioterrorism Hospital Preparedness Program

Brad Austin, M.P.H.
Commander, U.S. Public Health Service
Hospital Bioterrorism Preparedness Program
Human Resources and Services Administration
US Department of Health and Human Services

Slide 1

Mission Statement

"To ready hospitals and supporting health care systems to deliver coordinated and effective care to victims of terrorism and other public health emergencies"

Slide 2

Cooperative Agreements with:

• State Health Departments.
• DC, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles.
• Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas.
• Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau just added in FY 2003.

Slide 3

Hospital Preparedness Program

• $135 M for hospital preparedness (2002).
• $514 M appropriated in 2003.
  • New guidance just published May 2.
  • "Hospital preparedness and infrastructure."

Slide 4

Surge Capacity

• Hospital bed capacity.
  • 500 acutely ill patients / million population.
• Decontamination facilities.
  • 500 acutely ill patients / million population.
• Isolation facilities.
  • At least one per grantee.
  • To support 10 patients at a time.

Slide 5

Surge Capacity

• Maximum patient load.
• To prepare for an overwhelming number of patients either for an acute period or over an extended period of time.

Slide 6

Surge Capacity

• Beds.
• Staffing.
• Equipment.
• EMS Systems.

Slide 7

Surge Capacity

• Health care personnel.
  • 250 additional / million in urban areas.
  • 125 additional / million in rural areas.
• Personal protective equipment.
  • Sufficient to protect these personnel.

Slide 8

Surge Capacity

• Pharmaceutical caches.
  • Local pharmacies.
  • Till Strategic National Stockpile is delivered.
• Communications and information technology.
  • Secure and redundant.
  • Connects health care system components.

Slide 9

Regionalization Approaches

• One hospital alone not sufficient.
• HRSA lets grantees define this to best facilitate their own geography and circumstances.

Slide 10

Surge Capacity and Regionalization

• Primary health clinics, IHS facilities, VA hospitals, military medical facilities.
• Integrate strengths of individual facilities and systems.
• Begin by assessing your current local and regional capacity.

Slide 11

More Program Information

• http://www.hrsa.gov/bioterrorism/

Current as of September 2003

Internet Citation:

National Bioterrorism Hospital Preparedness Program. Text Version of a Slide Presentation at a Web-assisted Audioconference. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/ulp/surge/austintxt.htm

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