Planning Resources by Setting: Hospitals and Healthcare Systems

Below is a list of resources to help healthcare providers, staff, hospital administrators, and chief executive officers (CEO) plan for and respond to public health emergencies.

Healthcare Preparedness and Response Team Tools

• Hospital Discussion Guide
  This Guide is for use during a facilitated small group (8 to 12 people) discussion of a community’s current pandemic influenza planning efforts. Similar guides for public health and emergency management are available at the Communities page.
• Hospital All-Hazards Assessment Interactive Tool [508 compliant PDF]
  This interactive tool is designed to help you assess and identify potential gaps in your facility’s all-hazards emergency plan(s). Upon completing the HAH you can print a summary of your responses, which you can use to modify aspects of these plan(s). You are encouraged to update the HAH as changes to your plan(s) are made, and to include the HAH with your preparedness planning documents. The tool is geared towards hospital preparedness staff, including planners, administrators, and other key personnel. It is suggested that this group complete the HAH in multiple sessions over a period of time.
• The Disaster Preparedness Budget Model
  The model is an Excel-based tool designed to assist healthcare executives in preparing their finances to withstand a large-scale public health emergency. This model estimates the resources needed by healthcare department (e.g., administration, emergency room, facilities, information and technology) during a disaster. It also calculates the amount of cash reserves an executive may need for maintaining operations while awaiting reimbursement from insurance companies or government agencies.
• Hospital 2009 H1N1 Pandemic Influenza – Readiness Review Checklist [50 KB / 5 pages]
  This checklist was developed by CDC and ASPR to supplement existing hospital emergency management plans. This list focuses on information hospitals can use in response to a surge in H1N1 and seasonal flu patients rather than the basic planning and regulatory considerations included in earlier checklists.

Other Tools

• Hospital Surge Evaluation Tool
  The Hospital Surge Evaluation Tool is a user-friendly peer assessment tool that was designed to identify gaps in a hospital’s preparedness and help assess its ability to respond to a mass casualty event.  The tool takes the form of an essentially no-notice drill, and incorporates the real-life considerations of healthcare delivery in acute care settings.  The tool is intended for use by hospital emergency managers, hospital administrators, and clinical staff to assess and improve their hospital’s surge plans.
• Health Emergency Assistance Line and Triage Hub (HEALTH) Model
  AHRQ designed this model to help planners determine the requirements, specifications, and resources needed to develop an emergency contact center similar to the one identified in the HEALTH model.

Reports and Guidance

• Delivery of Essential Healthcare Services Resources
  This page lists resources developed by state and local communities to determine how they would maintain delivery of essential healthcare services while providing care for large numbers of influenza patients during a pandemic. These resources include plans, guidelines, and tools to assist with these activities (e.g., staffing plans, triage and care plans, supply and resource lists).
• CDC Public Health Law Program Resources on Hospital Legal Preparedness
  Hospitals are required by laws, regulations, and accreditation requirements to plan for disasters. Proposed regulation from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may have an effect on these requirements. This list of resources has been compiled by the CDC’s Public Health Law Program to help hospitals incorporate law into emergency preparedness.
• Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Creating and Sustaining Community-wide Emergency Preparedness Systems [220 KB / 52 pages]
  This white paper provided by the Joint Commission seeks to address broad issues that have the potential to seriously undermine the provision of safe, high-quality health care and the health of the American people.
• Hospital Emergency Incident Command System: A guide to help unify hospitals with other emergency responders
  This guide, created by the California Emergency Medical Services Authority, describes a methodology for using Incident Command System (ICS) in a hospital/healthcare environment and is designed to assist hospitals in improving their emergency management planning, response, and recovery capabilities for unplanned and planned events. HICS products include a Guidebook and planning and training tools.