The nation's hospitals are eligible to apply for shares of $25 million in grants the Department of Health and Human Services will award for improvements to emergency care.
HHS announced the availability of the grants last week. Deadline for application is Sept. 7.
The money will be awarded via a competitive emergency care grant program focused on hospital surge capacity, emergency care system capability, and community and hospital preparedness for public health emergencies.
The grant initiative addresses some of the related emergency care issues highlighted in the June 2006 Institute of Medicine's Future of Emergency Care Reports.
"We are asking the healthcare community to propose innovative approaches to public health emergencies," said HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response RADM W. Craig Vanderwagen, MD. "By identifying new projects that could be replicated across the country, we are looking to strengthen the overall resiliency of our nation's emergency care."
While HHS did not explicitly mention healthcare information technology in its announcement, department officials did focus on improving efficiency and effectiveness, which some hospitals across the country have been able to do with the help of information technology.
HHS officials said the program would award grants for projects that achieve the following:
- Help integrate public and private emergency care system capabilities with public health and other first responder systems through periodic preparedness and response capabilities evaluation via drills and exercises; and integrating public and private sector public health and medical donations and volunteers
- Improving the efficiency, effectiveness and expandability of emergency care systems and overall preparedness and response capabilities in hospitals, other healthcare facilities (including mental health and long-term care facilities), and trauma care and emergency medical service systems, with respect to public health emergencies
- Develop plans for strengthening public health emergency medical management, and the provision of emergency care and treatment capabilities.
Grant applications must be received no later than 5 p.m. EDT on Sept. 7, 2007, and may be filed online via the federal grants portal. After review, a total of no more than three grants will be awarded.