News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 28, 2007

Contact: HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343

HHS Provides $430 Million to States to Enhance Hospital and Other Health Care Facilities Preparedness For Public Health Emergencies

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced a total of $430 million in awards to states, territories and four major metropolitan areas to strengthen the ability of hospitals and other health care facilities to respond to bioterror attacks, infectious diseases, and natural disasters that may cause mass casualties.

"These grants are an important addition to national security because our hospitals and other health care facilities play such a critical role in responding to a terrorist attack, an infectious disease outbreak, and natural disasters," Secretary Leavitt said. "States and communities can use these funds to improve emergency care during a health crisis."

Health departments in the states, territories and metro areas of New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles County and Washington, D.C. receiving the federal funds will use them to improve the readiness of hospitals and other health care facilities in their jurisdictions. The goal is to strengthen medical surge capability across the nation. Recipients will use the funds develop or improve:

interoperable communications,
systems to track available hospital beds,
advance registration of volunteer health professionals, and
planning for both fatality management and hospital evacuations.

Congress transferred oversight of the grant program from the Health Resources and Services Administration to the new HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response with passage of the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006.

Also new for this year is the $15 million Healthcare Facilities Partnership Program. Congress asked HHS to award competitive grants or cooperative agreements to eligible health care partnerships to enhance community and hospital preparedness for public health emergencies. The $15 million will be awarded through a competitive process resulting in 6-30 cooperative agreement awards for regional partnerships that may range from $500,000 - $2.5 million.

“The goal of the new program is to develop innovative and creative projects that can be replicated across the country,” said HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response RADM Craig Vanderwagen, MD, USPHS. “These partnerships will require close coordination among health officials from state, local and private sectors.”

In the five years HHS has provided funding to increase hospital and health care facility preparedness, a total of more than $2 billion has been made available. Fiscal Year 2007 awards are contained in the attached table.

State	Funding
Alabama	$6,330,289
Alaska	$1,349,441
Arizona	$8,317,173
Arkansas	$4,063,403
California	$34,106,620
Chicago	$4,103,521
Colorado	$6,525,958
Connecticut	$4,943,121
Delaware	$1,581,970
District of Columbia	$1,737,218
Florida	$23,432,938
Georgia	$12,370,869
Hawaii	$2,129,653
Idaho	$2,359,069
Illinois	$13,163,842
Indiana	$8,503,785
Iowa	$4,280,453
Kansas	$4,004,077
Kentucky	$5,832,130
Los Angeles County	$13,111,395
Louisiana	$5,935,695
Maine	$2,175,388
Maryland	$7,619,177
Massachusetts	$8,660,567
Michigan	$13,298,463
Minnesota	$7,050,445
Mississippi	$4,189,754
Missouri	$7,906,932
Montana	$1,697,530
Nebraska	$2,741,751
Nevada	$3,663,636
New Hampshire	$2,166,921
New Jersey	$11,560,312
New Mexico	$2,977,887
New York	$14,561,258
New York City	$10,913,604
North Carolina	$11,727,581
North Dakota	$1,306,102
Ohio	$15,050,914
Oklahoma	$5,037,444
Oregon	$5,191,530
Pennsylvania	$16,271,242
Puerto Rico	$5,479,326
Rhode Island	$1,853,432
South Carolina	$5,978,140
South Dakota	$1,491,255
Tennessee	$8,155,520
Texas	$30,301,320
Utah	$3,732,769
Vermont	$1,290,942
Virginia	$10,189,048
Washington	$8,608,090
West Virginia	$2,805,313
Wisconsin	$7,544,102
Wyoming	$1,152,882
Guam (US)	$457,390
Virgin Islands (US)	$387,946
Federated States of Micronesia	$387,095
Northern Marianas Islands (US)	$346,510
American Samoa (US)	$323,330
Marshall Islands	$321,536
Palau	$274,996
Total	$415,032,000.00
Partnership Program	$15,000,000.00
Grand Total	$430,032,000.00

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Last revised: January 20, 2009