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Earthquake Risk Transfer for Healthcare and Public Health

Earthquake Risk Transfer for Healthcare and Public Health

Owners and Operators

Hospitals, ambulances in six private and two government subsectors.

Healthcare and Public Health Situation

The HPH Sector provides goods and services integral to maintaining local, national, and global health security. HPH Sector resources are critical in supporting the five core mission areas (prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery), people, and the communities they serve before, during, and after any incident with actual or potential health consequences.

HPH Sector infrastructure is largely dedicated to building and sustaining community health resilience; enhancing and expanding the Nation’s medical capacity for everyday healthcare; improving health-related situational awareness capabilities; enhancing the integration of HPH capabilities into emergency management systems in effective ways; and strengthening global health security. Key elements of the HPH Sector are integrated and scalable from baseline operations to crisis response mode anywhere.

The 2010 Haiti earthquake and the 2019 Corona pandemic, demonstrated how important the HPH Sector can be during a national challenge or health crisis. Disruption of the HPH Sector also can directly impact economy.

The HPH Sector’s critical infrastructure can be classified according to service types and functional categories, or subsectors, resulting in six private and two government subsectors. The functional composition of the various subsectors will be reviewed periodically to ensure their continued relevance and inclusivity.
Demand for HPH infrastructure is extremely high. In the US tens of thousands of certified nursing homes operated at over 80 percent capacity, and, at any one time, over 60 percent of the beds in America’s community healthcare facilities were occupied. With such high demand, even minor interruptions to local or regional HPH infrastructure can have widespread impacts especially on life insurance.

HPH Private Subsectors

Private and government HPH subsectors are briefly described as follow:

Direct Patient Care

This is the largest subsector, encompassing healthcare systems, professional associations, and a wide variety of medical facilities, public health, and emergency medical services.

Health Information Technology

This subsector includes medical research institutions, information standards bodies, and electronic medical record systems vendors.

Health Plans and Payers

Health insurance companies and plans, local and State health departments, and emergency health organizations are in this subsector.

Mass Fatality Management Services

Cemetery, cremation, morgue, and funeral home occupations are in this subsector. This subsector also includes mass fatality support services such as coroners, medical examiners, forensic examiners, and psychological support personnel. The subsector remains dominated by small employers; Most of the funeral homes are owned by families, individuals, or closely held companies.

Medical Materials

The medical supply chain depends upon who work in the public and private sectors in the areas of medical equipment and supply manufacturing and distribution. Pharmaceutical distributors alone deliver millions prescription medicines and healthcare products to more than licensed healthcare providers.

Laboratories, Blood, and Pharmaceuticals

A mix of government and private sector assets, this subsector is critical for healthcare situational awareness, and includes pharmaceutical manufacturers, drug store chains, pharmacists’ associations, public and private laboratory associations, and blood banks.

HPH Government Subsectors

Public Health

Governmental public health services are broad, including epidemiological surveillance, preparedness planning, emergency response, laboratory testing and coordination, health information communication and outreach, and programs that build community resilience. Public health networks guide local hazard and risk assessments, develop mitigation plans and strategies, facilitate joint public-private sector planning and exercising, and conduct response and recovery operations.

Response and Programs

There are policy development, funding opportunities, and coordinating activities in all governments, which includes coordinated response activities. The HPH Sector includes diverse partners from several departments working together to improve resilience of the system and support HPH operations.