News Releases

ASPR Funding for Hospital Emergency Preparedness Announced

The Center for Health Affairs was awarded $789,110 in hospital emergency preparedness funds for the 2016-2017 fiscal year. These funds, awarded through the Ohio Department of Health and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), the division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services responsible for responding to and preparing for public health emergencies, were announced in May.

As was anticipated, this year’s ASPR funding amount is less than last year’s funding. The 2.5 percent reduction marks the 11th year of declining funding for the program, a trend that is expected to continue over the next several grant periods. 

“The ASPR funding allows us to provide each of our member hospitals with between $9,000 and $30,000 to help prepare their facilities for emergencies such as chemical spills, power outages, mass casualties, information system failures and terrorist events,” said Beth Gatlin, RN, MA-HSM, ASPR project director. “Members use their allocations to maintain existing equipment, replace antiquated equipment or to conduct trainings and exercises.”

Despite the decrease in funding over the years, hospitals are still prepared to respond to a variety of disaster scenarios.

“Initially, we tended to use a large portion of our ASPR funding to stockpile supplies our members would need during emergencies or mass casualty events,” explained Gatlin. “Now that we have these supplies, we have been able to maintain our preparedness with less funding but I do worry what will happen if the funding goes away. The relationships we’ve built will still be there but it would be hard to maintain the level of preparedness we have today without a coordinated, deliberate effort.”

As in the past, The Center’s emergency preparedness team will prioritize communication, functional needs issues, exercises and training during the current ASPR funding cycle, which runs from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. As part of the individualized consulting provided to members, The Center will work with each member to prioritize the use of funds in order to improve each hospital’s emergency preparedness and ultimately to ensure the safety of the patients, employees and the facility infrastructure. 

If you have comments, questions or concerns about the region’s hospital emergency preparedness program, please contact The Center's emergency preparedness experts, Beth Gatlin via email or at 216.255.3665, and Andrea Bishop, BSN, emergency preparedness project manager, via email or at 216.255.3662.