Glossary

Access-based needs: All people must have access to certain resources, such as social services, accommodations, information, transportation, medications to maintain health, and so on.
Function-based needs: Function-based needs refer to restrictions or limitations an individual may have that requires assistance before, during, and/or after a disaster or public health emergency.²⁰

A hospital that provides inpatient medical care and other related services for surgery, acute medical conditions, or injuries (usually for a short term illness or condition).

An AAR/IP is used to provide feedback to participating entities on their performance during an exercise. The AAR/IP summarizes exercise events and analyzes performance of the tasks identified as important during the planning process. It also evaluates achievement of the selected exercise objectives and demonstration of the overall capabilities being validated. The IP portion of the AAR/IP includes corrective actions for improvement, timelines for implementation of corrective actions, and assignment to responsible parties. AAR/IPs should follow Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) principles, and HPP will provide an optional template for future use^.21

The CHEMPACK program began as an initiative of CDC's Division of Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) in 1983 before oversight and operational control of the SNS and CHEMPACK moved to the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) in early 2018. It provides antidotes (three countermeasures used concomitantly) to nerve agents for pre-positioning by State, local, and/or tribal officials throughout the U.S.²²

The CAT is a simple, online form that will enable HCCs to complete a self‐ assessment of their current state against various HPP requirements, including HPP Performance Measures.

The CST tests a coalition’s ability to work in a coordinated way, using their own systems and plans to find appropriate destinations for patients using a simulated evacuation of inpatient facilities (that collectively represent at least 20 percent of a coalition’s staffed acute care bed capacity). The CST is designed to help HCCs identify gaps in their surge planning through a no- or low-notice exercise. The exercise’s foundation comes from a real-world health care system disaster challenge—the evacuation of a hospital or other patient care facility. Further, the test incorporates lessons learned from pilot tests with HCCs in South Dakota, Texas, Michigan, and Wyoming, which contributed significantly to the tool’s development. The test is available and free for all to use in their health care disaster preparedness and planning. The CST and related materials are available online.

A radiation incident affecting a large population will require local response authorities to establish one or more population monitoring and decontamination facilities to assess people for exposure, contamination, and the need for decontamination or other medical follow-up. These facilities are known as community reception centers.²³

Critical care helps people with life-threatening injuries and illnesses. It might treat problems such as complications from surgery, accidents, infections, and severe breathing problems. It involves close, constant attention by a team of specially-trained health care providers. Critical care usually takes place in an intensive care unit (ICU) or trauma center.²⁴

For each PM, the organization(s) providing the data for the measure (recipient, HCC, or hospital) is listed.

For each PM, the individual data points that must be reported to calculate the PM, including the data entity, data source, and response.

For each PM, documentation or systems where PM data are documented and managed (e.g., exercise materials, meeting notes, or financial statements). Data sources should be archived for future verification purposes.

Specific language is linked to a detailed definition for each PM. These definitions and interpretations provide guidance on how to interpret key terms and phrases within the context of the PM.

A hazard impact causing adverse physical, social, psychological, economic, or political effects that challenges the ability to rapidly and effectively respond. Despite a stepped-up capacity and capability (call-back procedures, mutual aid, etc.), as well as change from routine management methods to an incident command/management process, the outcome is lower than expected compared with a smaller scale or lower magnitude impact (See “emergency” for important contrast between the two terms).²⁵

The EMSC program is administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). EMSC cooperative agreements have helped all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories (the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico). Cooperative agreement funds have improved the availability of child-appropriate equipment in ambulances and emergency departments; supported hundreds of programs to prevent injuries; and provided thousands of hours of training to emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and other emergency medical care providers.

The physical location at which the coordination of information and resources to support incident management activities (on-scene operations) normally takes place. An EOC may be a temporary facility; it can also be located in a more central or permanently established facility, perhaps at a higher level organization within a jurisdiction. EOCs may be organized by major functional disciplines (e.g., fire, law enforcement, medical services), by jurisdiction (e.g., federal, state, regional, tribal, city, county), or by some combination thereof.²⁷

ESF-8 provides the mechanism for coordinated federal assistance to supplement state, tribal, and local resources in response to the following:

• Public health and medical care needs
• Veterinary and/or animal health issues in coordination with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
• Potential or actual incidents of national significance
• A developing potential health and medical situation ²⁸

ESF-8 language distinguishes between lead and supporting agencies to conduct an emergency response.²⁹ Within the context of Emergency Support Functions (ESF), lead agencies have significant authorities, roles, resources, and capabilities for a particular function within an ESF.

The response plan that an entity (organization, jurisdiction, state, etc.) maintains, which describes its intended response to any emergency situation. The response plan, aligned with ESF-8,provides action guidance for management and emergency response personnel during the response phase.³⁰

EEI enable situational awareness of an incident or response.³¹ EEI are discrete types of reportable public health or health care-related incident-specific knowledge that are communicated or received concerning a particular fact or circumstance; EEI are preferably reported in a standardized manner or format, which assists in generating situational awareness for decision-making purposes. EEI are often coordinated and agreed upon pre-incident and are communicated to local partners as part of information collection request templates and emergency response playbooks.

Ideal or recommended result or achievement based on baseline data, benchmarks, or program requirements, and can be set using a formula or a benchmark.In some cases, this section indicates that the goal or target may be set at a later date (after data from the initial fiscal years have been reviewed).

A group of individual health care and response organizations (e.g., acute care hospitals, emergency medical services (EMS), emergency management agencies, public health agencies, etc.) in a defined geographic location. HCCs play a critical role in developing health care delivery system preparedness and response capabilities. HCCs serve as multiagency coordinating groups that support and integrate with ESF-8 activities in the context of incident command system (ICS) responsibilities.

An HCC member is defined as an entity within the HCC’s defined boundaries that actively contributes to HCC strategic planning, operational planning and response, information sharing, and resource coordination and management.

Any asset where point-of-service medical care is regularly provided or provided during an incident. It includes acute care hospitals, integrated health care systems, private physician offices, outpatient clinics, long-term care, and other medical care configurations. During an emergency response, alternative medical care facilities and sites where definitive medical care is provided by emergency medical services (EMS) and other field personnel would be included in this definition.³²

A user-friendly peer assessment designed to identify gaps in a hospital’s preparedness and help assess its ability to respond to a mass casualty event. The exercise is a low- to no-notice exercise and incorporates the real-life considerations of health care delivery in acute care settings. The exercise is intended for use by hospital emergency managers, hospital administrators, and clinical staff to assess and improve their hospital’s surge plans. Hospitals need to exercise their preparedness for a mass casualty incident regularly. This exercise can help hospital emergency managers make recurring table top exercises a reality by providing a fully-developed table top exercise that can be used at their facilities.

The ability of a hospital to provide no less than 20 percent bed availability of staffed beds within four hours of a disaster. It is built on three pillars: continuous monitoring across the health system; off-loading of patients (who are at low risk for untoward events) through reverse triage; and on-loading of patients from the disaster.³³

A systematic, proactive approach to guide departments and agencies at all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to work together seamlessly and manage incidents involving all threats and hazards—regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity—in order to reduce loss of life, property, and harm to the environment.³⁴

• In-kind support from sources other than the recipient: Any non-monetary support for HCC activities received from sources other than the recipient. For further definitions of in-kind support, see 45 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR), Part 75 at https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?node=pt45.1.75.


• Physical space: For example, meeting space, exercise space, offices, storage, etc.


• Equipment/Supplies: For example, communication or office equipment, or administrative supplies.


• Services: For example, printing, logistical, transportation, accounting, or administrative services.


• Labor Hours: For example, labor hours of HCC coordinator or other HCC members working on HCC-related activities, if the individual is a volunteer or employed by a member organization.

Recipients are required to coordinate the completion of JRAs to identify potential hazards, vulnerabilities, and risks within the community, including interjurisdictional (e.g., cross-border) risks as appropriate, which specifically relate to the public health, medical, and mental/behavioral systems and the functional needs of at-risk individuals.

A category of health care coalition (HCC) members that represents a type of facility or organization within one HCC (e.g., all nursing facilities, all acute care hospitals, or all emergency medical services (EMS) agencies).

A brief description of the purpose of each PM and its link to preparedness program priorities.

 PERFORMS is the data collection system that recipients use for FY2019 end of year data collection. The system is owned and hosted by CDC.

A preparedness plan meets the required components identified in the FOA. This includes information collected on hazard vulnerabilities and risks, resources, gaps, needs, and legal and regulatory considerations. The HCC preparedness plan enhances preparedness and risk mitigation through cooperative activities based on common priorities and objectives.

For each PM, the format for reporting on the required data points of the associated PM.

A response plan meets the required components identified in the FOA. An HCC Response Plan describes HCC operations that support strategic planning, information sharing, and resource management. The plan also describes the integration of these functions with the ESF-8 lead agency to ensure information is provided to local officials and to effectively communicate and address resource and other needs requiring ESF-8 assistance.

Treatment space refers to any space the hospital or facility designates as a space to render emergency care.

A means by which residents, emergency management practitioners, organizational and community leaders, and government officials can collectively understand and assess the needs of their respective communities and determine the best ways to organize and strengthen their assets, capacities, and interests.³⁵