HPP Cooperative Agreement - The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) - Office of Preparedness and Response (OPR) is committed to enhancing healthcare readiness and resilience through a comprehensive, whole-community approach. Our strategic plan, spanning the next five years, will outline key priorities to achieve this goal. IDPH-OPR recognizes that effective preparedness requires collaboration, engagement, and coordination across the health care delivery system. IDPH will use the National Health Care Preparedness and Response Capabilities, the Health Care Preparedness and Response Capabilities for Health Care Coalitions and the activities laid out in the 2024-2028 cooperative agreement to achieve a response ready and resilient healthcare workforce. IDPH will provide about 86% of the HPP funds on a formula basis to 10 Regional Healthcare Coalitions (RHCCs) to build and sustain Health Care Preparedness and Response Capabilities as recognized by HHS-ASPR. They will assess and prioritize this work based on comprehensive risk assessments, the development of five-year strategic plans, and the lessons learned from annually mandated exercises and drills and resulting after-action reports. IDPH and our grantees, in partnership with the Emergency Medical Services for Children program, will continue to develop plans, training, and exercises for pediatric preparedness as during the previous five-year cooperative agreement, including an online training platform regarding emergency care for school nurses. After the OPR and the RHCC assessments and planning occur in BP1, the program will shift towards meeting and demonstrating the new planning, training, and exercise requirements as outlined in the 2024-2028 NOFO. IDPH uses no more than 14% of the HPP funds to support Recipient Level Direct Costs to operate the HPP program. The efforts and accomplishments of the HPP program have increased the state’s public health capacity to prepare for all-hazards emergencies and ensures that the tools are in place for a robust public health response across the state even as threats evolve and emerge. The value of this program was demonstrated during many emergency response operations that IDPH faced over the last few years. This includes responses to COVID-19, Monkey Pox Virus (Mpox), measles, Highland Park mass shooting, winter and summer storms, flooding, chemical fires, among many other less visible events.
