Tuesday, April 1, 2025
4/1/2025
DC Hospital Preparedness Program Cooperative Agreement. - The mission of the District of Columbia Health and Medical Coalition (DC HMC) is to enhance the District's capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from public health and healthcare emergencies, ensuring a resilient healthcare system for residents and visitors. Established in March 2015 by DC Health and the DC Hospital Association, the DC HMC leverages unique partnerships with our healthcare system partners, other local agencies, and regional and federal partners to improve emergency preparedness and response. Strategic Partnerships and Governance: The DC HMC will establish relationships with new healthcare partners, as well as local, regional, and private sector partners, to promote a systemwide response. Formal and informal partnerships will prioritize shared objectives aligned with DC HMC's mission to prepare for, respond to, and recover from public health and healthcare emergencies. DC HMC will review our existing rules of governance and establish new guidelines to ensure continued resilience. Additionally, we will prioritize strong governance, characterized by a robust set of rules and practices guiding our organization. Optimizing DC HMC governance will be a key focus to ensure we have the necessary framework, system, and process in place to collectively address emerging threats and provide an active response. This will involve clearly defining roles and responsibilities for members, ensuring the representation of all relevant stakeholders, and fostering resilience through effective leadership. Assessment and Risk Mitigation: Over 2024–2028, the DC HMC will conduct assessments focusing on cybersecurity, extended downtime impacts, and patient movement to inform future preparedness activities. These assessments will engage diverse stakeholders and provide datadriven insights for planning, training, and exercises, addressing one of the highest priority threats identified in the 2024 DC HMC Hazard Vulnerability Analysis. Preparedness & Response Planning: The Coalition will revise its Response Plan and develop new annexes, such as resource management and workforce readiness plans, to reflect updated bylaws, grant requirements, and identified gaps. This iterative, multi-disciplinary planning approach ensures alignment with the DC Health All Hazards and Emergency Operations Plan. Training and Exercises: A multi-year training and exercise program will be maintained to address priority hazards and gaps. The Coalition's Training and Exercise (T&E) Workgroup will lead these efforts, focusing on scenarios like cyberattacks, and will integrate findings from AfterAction Reports to continuously improve Coalition processes. Response Activation and Information Sharing: The DC HMC will enhance the real-time information sharing and response capabilities that are crucial during emergencies. This includes maintaining, upgrading, testing, and reporting the performance of communication systems like DC HMC Everbridge and the Hospital Mutual Aid Radio System (HMARS), as well as ensuring interoperability within the District and National Capital Region. By strengthening governance, conducting comprehensive assessments, improving emergency preparedness plans, maintaining a robust training program, and enhancing real-time information. sharing, the DC HMC aims to create a resilient healthcare system capable of effectively addressing public health emergencies in the District of Columbia.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).