The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) leads the country in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from the adverse health effects of emergencies and disasters by supporting our communities' ability to withstand adversity, strengthening our health and response systems, and enhancing national health security. ASPR's Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange (TRACIE) meets the information and technical assistance needs of a wide variety of partners and stakeholders (e.g., regional ASPR staff, health care coalitions, health care entities, and emergency and traditional health care providers). Access our fact sheet for more information.

*As we were going to press with this issue, the National Weather Service issued advisories regarding Hurricane Harvey. Please check out our Hurricane Resources at Your Fingertips and After the Flood: Mold-Specific Resources documents for helpful preparedness and response information.  

The ASPR TRACIE team spent the summer collaborating with our Subject Matter Expert Cadre to develop resources that can facilitate and enrich our stakeholders’ preparedness and response activities. This issue of The Express includes links to new tools for health care coalitions (HCCs), information on upcoming ASPR TRACIE webinars, recent webinar recordings, links to new resources, reminders regarding the CMS Emergency Preparedness (EP) Rule, and an update on cybersecurity .  

HCCs work closely with local health care organizations, and public and private sector response organizations to help:

• Patients receive the care they need at the right place and right time;  
• Decrease deaths, injuries, and illnesses resulting from emergencies or disasters; and
• Promote health care system resilience in the aftermath of an emergency or major disaster. 

ASPR TRACIE recently collaborated with the ASPR National Healthcare Preparedness Program (NHPP) to develop a set of tools and templates for HCCs that can help improve preparedness efforts, decision-making processes, and operational planning. Access this fact sheet for more information and links to each tool. While most ASPR TRACIE resources are applicable to HCCs and other stakeholders, we also created a new page to highlight select tools and other HCC resources, including the 50+ HCC plans and templates vetted through our Subject Matter Expert Cadre. We will continue to develop new tools and templates as requested and needed.

ASPR TRACIE hosted Growing and Sustaining: A Discussion About Healthcare Coalition Financial Models on June 20. During this webinar, speakers from HCCs across the country shared their experiences using various financial models to sustain their health care coalitions. 

Together with the National Ebola Training and Education Center, we held the Highly Pathogenic Infectious Disease Exercise Planning for Regional Transport webinar on August 23. Speakers shared tips and lessons learned from recent regional transport exercises in Maryland, Texas, and Nevada.              

In addition to the Advanced Copy of CMS Interpretive Guidance, you can now download the CMS’ Surveyor Tool, which illustrates whether each of the 17 provider types is affected by specific Code of Federal Regulations citations.

The ASPR TRACIE CMS EP Rule: Resources at Your Fingertips document includes links to helpful resources, and the Yale New Haven Health System Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response CMS EP Rule Crosswalk can help planners understand the association between the CMS EP Rule Conditions of Participation and existing regulatory and accreditation standards.