1.5 The MSCC Healthcare Coalition as a MAC System

Applying MAC System concepts, the Healthcare Coalition response organization has two major components:

• The MAC Center^[13] or EOC-like function (referred to in this text as the Healthcare Coalition Response Team or HCRT), which is generally staffed with personnel from the participating healthcare organizations.
• The MAC Group (referred to in this handbook as the Senior Policy Group) representing the leadership of the participating healthcare organizations.

The actual titles “Healthcare Coalition Response Team” and “Senior Policy Group” may vary from one Coalition to the next, but they should accurately reflect the respective roles of these components. Healthcare Coalitions may want to avoid using “EOC” in the title of their response organization in order to distinguish this EOC-like function from local jurisdiction (Tier 3) and State (Tier 4) response elements. The term EOC, as defined by NIMS, also describes a physical location rather than simply a functional entity. Typically, the HCRT may have a very small primary physical location. Most of its work may be conducted by team members who remain at their “home” facility and communicate virtually.

13. In the original NIMS (March 2004), the EOC and DOC-type entities were referred to as a “Multiagency Coordination Centers.”