ASPR to Fund Partnerships to Test Regional Disaster Response System Concept

Eligible partnerships can apply through Aug. 15 to serve as demonstration sites for implementing its Regional Disaster Health Response System concept, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response announced yesterday. ASPR plans to award two partnerships up to $3 million each to serve as demonstration sites for one year. “Whereas the health care coalition effort has successfully promoted horizontal integration of key stakeholders in the emergency response system, including health care entities and organizations, this effort will bolster such efforts by simultaneously promoting vertical integration of key expert resources such as trauma centers, pediatric centers, and poison control centers,” the funding opportunity announcement states. According to the announcement, the awards “will focus primarily on building and maturing the partnerships that are required to effectively prepare for and respond to the management of patients in disasters, including those that facilitate rapid expansion of medical surge capacity of the existing healthcare system, coordination of patient and resource movement to support the response, and the swift involvement of specific clinical specialists.” Eligible partnerships must include at least one hospital with a designated trauma center among the health care providers and at least one state and one political subdivision.