Operations

The Operations Division, under the Office of Preparedness and Emergency Operations, is responsible for the operational effectiveness of HHS’ response to medical and public health emergencies and serves as the eyes and ears of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) coordinating activities for the Department with its Interagency partners. The division is comprised of the following three branches.

The Secretary’s Operations Center (SOC)
Response Operations (RO)
Training Exercises and Lessons Learned (TELL)

Secretary’s Operations Center

The Secretary’s Operations Center is the focal point for synthesis of critical public health and medical information on behalf of the United States Government.  Through the Secretary’s Operations Center, the division provides real-time situational awareness, forecasting and analysis, and monitoring of the homeland. During emergency situations or exigent circumstances, the Secretary’s Operations Center coordinates incident management system responses for the Department of Health and Human Services and coordinates public health and medical and human services portions of ESF#6 and 8 response activities.   Operations continually monitors potential or developing Incidents of National Significance or Public Health Emergencies and supports regional and field operations by activating and deploying national public health and medical teams. 

Response Operations

Operations is the principal leader for Emergency Support Function #8 (ESF #8) operations and is responsible for overseeing the development, blueprinting, implementation, and management of processes and procedures to coordinate all Federal medical and public health support throughout the nation. During the response and recovery phases, Response Operations is charged with situational analysis and oversight, specifically looking at current operations and future operations in the next 24-48 hours, develop operations and future planning in support of the Planning Branch, the Joint Field Office, and the Incident Response Coordination Team (IRCT). Response Operations is also responsible for developing Operations Orders that provide specific information related to upcoming events.  Additionally, the Federal medical Station (FMS) program, which allows ASPR to provide low acuity bed surge up to 5000 beds through 250-bed units, is managed by RO.  Operations works with the NDMS Division and the Office of Force Readiness and Deployment (OFRD) to enhance the federal first response capability through deployable teams, works collaboratively with the intelligence and scientific communities and with DHHS’s interagency partners to enhance the situational awareness capabilities within the Secretary’s Operations Center, and manages the development of a variety of Standard Operating Procedures and Concepts of Operations (CONOPS) related to preparedness and response to medical and public health emergencies. 

Training, Exercise and Lessons Learned (TELL) programs

Additionally, Operations leads Training, Exercise and Lessons Learned (TELL) programs that are designed to ensure that the HHS’s training, exercise, and evaluation program goals and objectives are achieved and that the Department has the capability to manage and coordinate its emergency preparedness and response missions. TELL has established a systematic approach for the improvement of the Department’s emergency preparedness and response capabilities through training events, exercises, and evaluation. It provides a means to achieve annual goals and objectives, capture lessons observed during training events, exercises, and real-world contingencies, and implement corrective actions to improve the Department’s emergency preparedness and response capabilities. TELL provides the necessary structure for the entire Department to better coordinate readiness efforts through a development cycle of training, exercise and evaluation, resulting in greater preparedness for the next public health or medical emergency. TELL provides a framework and mechanisms for the Department to coordinate and improve its readiness capabilities across the spectrum of public health and medical emergencies. This includes effective all-hazards training; exercising within a robust and realistic domain; identifying lessons observed from training, events, exercises, and real-world contingencies; and implementing corrective action plans to improve the Department’s emergency preparedness and response capabilities.