The Connecticut Department of Public Health assists Connecticut hospitals, health care systems and community partners to:

• Enhance hospital and health care system emergency planning and response.
• Integrate public and private sector medical planning and assets to increase preparedness, response, and surge capacity of hospitals and other health care facilities.
• Improve infrastructure to help hospitals and health care systems prepare for public health emergencies.

Funds are administered by the department’s Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP). The program resides within the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. HPP is affiliated with and supported by the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Hospital Preparedness Program, which provides leadership and funding through grants and cooperative agreements to states, territories and eligible municipalities to improve surge capacity and enhance community and hospital preparedness for public health emergencies.

Key Focus Areas of HPP

• Health Care System Preparedness
• Emergency Operations Coordination
• Information Sharing
• Responder Safety and Health
• Health Care System Recovery
• Fatality Management
• Medical Surge
• Volunteer Management

Federal funds serve to ready hospitals and supporting health care systems to deliver coordinated and effective care to victims of terrorism and other public health emergencies.

HPP enhances the ability of hospitals and health care systems to prepare for and respond to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies. Program areas include interoperable communication systems, bed tracking, fatality management planning and hospital evacuation planning. HPP funds have been used to improve bed and personnel surge capacity, decontamination capabilities, isolation capacity, pharmaceutical supplies, as well as training, education, drills and exercises.

Connecticut Health Care Coalition

In Connecticut, HPP prepares the health care system to save lives through the development of the Connecticut Healthcare Coalition, a statewide organization representing hospitals, public health, EMS, emergency management, and other organizations. This coalition incentivizes diverse and often competitive health care organizations with differing priorities and objectives to work together by collaborating to ensure that each member has the necessary medical equipment and supplies, real-time information, communication systems, and trained health care personnel to respond to an emergency. The work of the Connecticut Healthcare Coalition helps ensure that patients receive the right care at the right place at the right time.

ASPR Health Care Readiness in Action: Stories From the Field

• Connecticut Registers 5,000 Volunteers to Mitigate COVID-19 Patient Surge
• HPP Funds Used to Deploy Mobile Field Hospital in Connecticut

For more information about the Connecticut Hospital Preparedness Program, please contact the DPH Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response at (860) 509-8282.