Celebrating the Hospital Preparedness Program
ASPR’s Hospital Preparedness Program, the nation’s only healthcare readiness program, celebrated its 15th year. HPP prepares the health care system to save lives through the development of regional health care coalitions. These coalitions incentivize diverse and often competitive health care organizations to work together.
Coalitions successfully responded to hurricanes, train derailments, and more over the past year.

Building the new Regional Disaster Health Response System
Building on the success of health care coalitions, ASPR implemented its vision of the Regional Disaster Health Response System (RDHRS). ASPR will better leverage and enhance existing programs, such and the Hospital Preparedness Program and the National Disaster Medical System, to create a more coherent, comprehensive, and capable health response system ready for modern health security threats. The RDHRS will be a tiered system that emphasizes the use of local healthcare coalitions and trauma centers and integrate their medical response capabilities with federal facilities and local emergency medical services.
Demonstration projects begin in the fall of 2018, taking the idea from concept to design to demonstration in less than one year.
Restructuring the National Disaster Medical System
To ensure readiness for modern health security threats and to meet the specific needs of each impacted community during disasters, ASPR restructured caches of medical equipment used by National Disaster Medical System personnel.

Exercising Patient Movement
ASPR led Tranquil Terminus, the largest patient movement exercise in HHS’ history. The exercise tested our nationwide ability to move patients with highly infectious diseases safely and securely to regional treatment centers.
Safely moving patients with highly infectious diseases, like Ebola, to regional treatment centers takes teamwork, preparation, skill, and training. ASPR worked with 50 state and local agencies and other partners to test readiness for Ebola and other highly infectious disease outbreaks.