$25 million made available for health care partnership emergency care competitive grants

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced that $25 million is available to hospitals and other health care facilities via a competitive emergency care grant program focused on hospital surge capacity, emergency care system capability, and community and hospital preparedness for public health emergencies.

Emergency care delivery has a direct impact on hospital preparedness. Improvements in emergency care will enhance our nation's ability to respond to public health emergencies. This grant initiative also addresses some of the related emergency care issues highlighted in the June 2006 Institute of Medicine's Future of Emergency Care Reports.

"We are asking the health care community to propose innovative approaches to public health emergencies," said HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response RADM W. Craig Vanderwagen, M.D. "By identifying new projects that could be replicated across the country, we are looking to strengthen the overall resiliency of our nation's emergency care."

The program will award grants for projects that will:

• Help integrate public and private emergency care system capabilities with public health and other first responder systems through periodic preparedness and response capabilities evaluation via drills and exercises; and integrating public and private sector public health and medical donations and volunteers.
• Improve the efficiency, effectiveness and expandability of emergency care systems and overall preparedness and response capabilities in hospitals, other health care facilities (including mental health and long-term care facilities), and trauma care and emergency medical service systems, with respect to public health emergencies.
• Develop plans for strengthening public health emergency medical management, and the provision of emergency care and treatment capabilities.

Grant applications must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. EDT on Sept. 7, 2007, and may be filed online via the federal grants portal, http://www.grants.gov/. After review, a total of no more than three grants will be awarded.