About Emergency Preparedness
The CHCANYS Emergency Preparedness (EP) Initiative provides the preparation, tools, and agency connections New York Community Health Centers need to respond to crises. Our mission is to help all Centers in New York State achieve the highest level of preparedness. Contact EP
|
H1N1 Flu Virus Update: Frequently Asked Questions
Recently the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) posted the much anticipated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sheet related to the novel H1N1 emergency for Community Health Centers. These FAQs and their corresponding answers should help New York Community Health Centers to properly prepare for this flu season. The FAQ sheet can be found by clicking here.
|
|
|
H1N1 Flu Virus: CHCANYS Assists in Preparations
for 2009-2010 Flu Season
CHCANYS continues to assist both the NYS Department of Health and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reach out to NY health centers to deal with what is projected to be a busy 2009 - 2010 flu season because of H1N1.
New York State:
Pre-registration for H1N1 Vaccine Forms Now Available!
The New York State Department of Health has released the pre-registration forms for becoming a distributor of H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available. The forms are available for both pediatric and adult providers. Click here for pediatric patient pre-registration form. Click here for adult provider pre-registration form.
Training for Healthcare Surge Webinars Sponsored by NYS DOH
NYS DOH has contracted with Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) to provide training in healthcare surge via four webinars. Click here for details.
New York City:
NYC Flu Diagnostic and Treatment Center Locator to be Launched Soon!
The influenza services locator will be used by DOHMH to assist the public in finding a provider for vaccinations and non-acute treatment for influenza like illness. The locator, posted on the DOHMH web portal and accessible through 311, will allow individuals to search for services by zip code or borough. Provision of this locator by the City is intended to redirect health care surge related to this year's flu season away from hospital emergency departments and spread it as evenly as possible among primary care providers. DOHMH and CHCANYS will be contacting NYC sites within the week to verify information that will allow them to be included on the system.
Influenza Working Group Continues to Inform City Planners
The Primary Care Influenza Working Group, led by CHCANYS EP Team and Dr. Bindy Crouch of DOHMH's Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Program (HEPP) continues to raise important issues for this coming flu season related to FTCA coverage and reimbursement. These questions, such as how will health centers be compensated for providing flu treatment for non-patients, are being filtered up through the appropriate channels at the State and Federal level. More updates will be available on the next Influenza Working Group conference call, 8:30 AM, Thursday, September 24th. To get on the mailing list for conference call information email CHCANYS EP Coordinator, Nairobi Shellow at Nshellow@CHCANYS.org.
Sign up for City Immunization Registry (CIR) Training Webinars
DOHMH is providing City Immunization Registry (CIR) training webinars to train/remind health care providers how to use the system. Centers distributing H1N1 vaccine in NYC should sign up for training. For details, click here.
|
|
CHCANYS Testimony on City Council
Response to H1N1 and Emergency Preparedness
CHCANYS testifies at
City Council to voice support for the New York City Department of Health
and Mental Hygiene’s (DOHMH) past and ongoing efforts related to H1N1
and to encourage a continuation and expansion of its focus on linking
community health centers to city emergency planners. Click here for full testimony.
|
|
Alert: H1N1 Flu Virus (Swine Flu)
Now that H1N1 has been confirmed in New York, CHCANYS has formed an interdisciplinary staff team to address the requirements of the situation and has been working to identify and meet the needs of community health centers. This includes timely dissemination of pertinent information, providing a link between centers and State/Local Departments of Health, and working to plan and strategize for an extended outbreak.
CHCANYS has worked to ensure that alerts from the Health Alert Network (HAN) and the Health Provider Network (HPN) reach community health centers. The HAN and HPN are automated systems for the City and State (respectively) that blast alerts in emergency situations to subscribers. CHCANYS is working to make sure that center personnel are receiving the alerts and helping to conduct outreach to increase the number of subscribers.
- To sign up for New York City’s Health Alert Network (HAN), click here
- To sign up for the Health Provider Network in New York State, click here
CHCANYS has been in touch with NYS DOH and working closely with the Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Program of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to help disseminate information to health centers and ensure that the centers are getting the health alerts sent out by NYC and the State. While health centers haven’t yet been specifically asked to play a role in the response, CHCANYS helped to coordinate a conference call and Q&A session held by DOHMH that was geared directly toward the needs and concerns of primary care. CHCANYS is working with DOHMH to plan and coordinate more of these informational call sessions and using these efforts as a test of our ability to conduct emergency information dissemination among our centers in preparation for larger responses. If you haven’t been getting the Swine Influenza alerts sent out by CHCANYS’ EP Program, please email Raquel Herreros at RHerreros@chcanys.org
Swine Flu Resources for CHC’s
|
HHS Withdraws Controversial Shortage Designation Rule
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced yesterday that it will withdraw a proposed rule on the designation of Medically Underserved Populations and Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA). The controversial rule would have impacted care for millions of medically underserved people with new HPSA designations. Instead, HRSA changed course, citing “many substantive comments on the proposed rule” and indicated that it will issue a “new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for further review and public comment prior to issuing a final rule.”
While shying away from the term, the simple fact is that HRSA’s action clearly constitutes a withdrawal of the original February 29th proposed rule. And, given the edict issued earlier this year by White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten that, except in extraordinary circumstances, the current Administration will issue no proposed rules after June 1 of this year, the HHS announcement effectively leaves the issue to be decided by a new Administration next year.
While we are sure that this decision was not easy, we are nevertheless convinced that it is the right thing to do. HRSA deserves credit for having worked hard to develop a new designation methodology to replace systems that are more than 30 years old; however, the simple fact is that their proposed methodology had serious flaws and had not been adequately tested, nor was it discussed with key stakeholders. Independent analysis of the methodology revealed that nearly one-fourth of all currently-designated MUA/Ps, and one-fourth of all HPSAs, would be in danger of losing their designations under the Proposed Rule, with a significant human toll: 31 million people living in current HPSAs and MUA/Ps that could lose designation (26 percent of all current residents of MUA/Ps and HPSAs).
The HRSA announcement complies with the first of three key recommendations made by NACHC in its comments on the proposed rule. The announcement gave no indication whether it will follow the second NACHC recommendation, that it enter a Negotiated Rule Making process on this matter, to permit HRSA and relevant stakeholders to discuss and resolve issues arising from the Proposed Rule and methodology. We remain hopeful that this suggestion will be followed in designing a new proposed methodology for making such designations.
Finally, we remain concerned that HRSA has not indicated what will happen in this interim period. To ensure that there is no disruption in the operation of the current health care safety net, we had also urged HRSA to suspend the review of any existing shortage designations until the Negotiated Rule Making is completed. We remain hopeful that HRSA will take such action, in order to avoid any situation in which an area or population group might lose designation under current criteria, only to potentially gain it back under a new methodology. HRSA noted the absurdity of such a “yo-yo” situation in the preamble to its original proposed rule, and we trust it will not succumb to employing such a process or allowing it to be employed in this interim period.
|
|
EP Online Resources Include:
EP Additional Programs:
- Drills, Workshops, and Tabletop Exercises for Members
- Monthly Learning Calls on EP Topics
- Collaboration with City and State Departments of Health
- Facilitating Emergency Communication Between Organizations
- And Much More!
Contact EP
|
|
Highlights
NYC Healthcare PREPARES: the NYC DOHMH Emergency Preparedness Website
Click here for the NYC DOHMH EP Coordinators & GNYHA Meeting materials
Click here for additional GNYHA Emergency Preparedness materials
CHCANYS Emergency Preparedness Manual Sections
Click here to download the CHCANYS Communication with Patients Policies and Procedures Manual Section (insert as an additional subsection under "Communications/IT")
Click here to download the updated CHCANYS Communicable Disease Policies and Procedures Manual Section (replaces the old Communicable Disease subsection under "Incident Action Plans")
CHCANYS Emergency Preparedness Manual Appendices
Click here to download CHCANYS Incident Management System (IMS) Policies and Procedures Appendix
Click here to download our report on Working with Community Organizations.
Click here to download our report on Legal and Liability Issues.
Click here to download our "What to Expect from Your Health Center in an Emergency" Patient Brochure
Highlights from Our EP Information Library:
Click here to download the NYC DOHMH Pandemic Influenza Plan
(or visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cd/cd-panflu-plan.shtml)
Click here to download the NYS DOH Pandemic Influenza Plan
(or visit www.health.state.ny.us/diseases/communicable/influenza/pandemic/)
Click here to download the Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist created by HHS
(or visit www.pandemicflu.gov)
(Note: files are large and may take a minute to download.)
Health Center EP Is in the News!
The Times Union (Albany, NY) featured a CHCANYS pandemic flu preparedness tabletop exercise at Hometown Health Center in their article "Threat of Avian Flu Prompts Crisis Plans" regarding health care worker preparedness.
Join the NYC Medical Reserve Corps!
Click here to learn more!
Receive FREE Emergency Preparedness Materials!
Click here to learn more!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here to sign up for our Emergency Preparedness Listserv!
|
|
