Communities fear waning attention to health system surge capacity--the space, supplies, people, and command structure to care for many injured or ill people--could jeopardize progress to respond in a terrorist attack, natural disaster, or infectious disease pandemic, according to a study released June 12 by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).
The study examined community-level surge capacity development and variation across six communities: Boston; Greenville, S.C.; Miami; Phoenix; Orange County, Calif.; and Seattle. To place these communities’ perspectives in a broader context with communities that have faced large-scale disasters, interviews also were conducted with officials in New York City, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans, as well as with national leaders. The findings are detailed in a new HSC research brief, Developing Health System Surge Capacity: Community Efforts in Jeopardy.
Communities rely on federal funding to help coordinate and plan across agencies and healthcare providers, conduct training and drills, recruit volunteers, and purchase equipment and stockpile supplies for a disaster, according to the study. Although federal funding has raised community awareness of the need for surge capacity and enabled communities to carry out those activities, respondents reported that federal funding is fragmented and declining, making it difficult for communities to pursue a comprehensive surge capacity strategy. Read the research brief.
