Rural Emergency Hospitals​
Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) is a designation given to eligible rural hospitals by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that began on January 1, 2023. Congress established the Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) designation in December 2020 in Section 125 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 (Public Law 116-260) and in response to the loss of essential healthcare services in rural areas due to hospital closures. According to the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program, 140 rural hospitals closed between January 2010 and September 30, 2022. In addition, a February 2020 Chartis Group report identified 453 financially vulnerable rural hospitals at risk of closing.
​
The REH designation is designed to maintain access to critical outpatient hospital services in communities that may not be able to support or sustain a Critical Access Hospital or small rural hospital. REHs are required to provide 24-hour emergency and observation services and can elect to furnish other outpatient services. Facilities designated as an REH will receive enhanced Medicare payments for certain outpatient services and additional monthly payments. Learn more about REH on ruralhealthinfo.org.

Pediatric Hospital Office Hours
January 30, 2024
​Dr. Samantha Mishra will be presenting on Pediatric Readiness Across the Continuum. Please join us as she delves into the importance of Pediatric Readiness in both the pre-hospital and hospital emergency departments, available resources and the role of the Pediatric Champion (also known as Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator (PECC)). See the attached flyer for more information.

Special Pathogens Response Survey
Due January 31, 2024
The National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC) and the Regional Emerging Special Pathogens Treatment Centers (RESPTCs) are conducting a needs assessment survey related to special pathogen preparedness to gather insights from healthcare facilities, public health partners and EMS organizations.  
Participation and response to this survey will play a pivotal role in shaping the development of workplans and prioritizing future projects for NETEC and the RESPTCs related to special pathogen preparedness.

The insights gathered from this survey will be instrumental in:

• Identifying areas for improvement in current practices
• Informing the development of targeted training programs
• Enhancing coordination and communication among healthcare, public health, and EMS stakeholders

To contribute to this important initiative, please click on the survey link provided below. Responses will remain confidential, and the aggregated data will be used for analysis, program improvement and advancing the state of preparedness in the U.S.

The survey should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete, if you are unable to complete the survey in one sitting, you can reenter and finish at a later time.

Please complete the survey by January 31, 2024.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Amy Encinger at [email protected].
To complete the survey


Region V for Kid Pediatric Study
Region V for Kids is funding a study on Hospital Emergency Preparedness in Rural and Critical Access Hospitals. The Primary Investigator is Dr. Steven Krug from Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. The study is looking for 2-3 hospitals in Michigan to participate. Corewell Health and Michigan Medicine have partnered to recruit rural hospital participation from within their own healthcare systems. There are no asks from the Coalitions.
​
This is just for your information so if you receive any questions, you are aware of the study. If you have any questions, please contact Lauren Korte ([email protected]).
Region V for Kids Flyer


Preparedness Lunch and Learn
February 20, 2024
The Preparedness Lunch and Learn series continues with Pediatric Readiness on January 16, 2024, with a discussion on Hospital Mass Fatality Planning. Throughout the series topics will continue to build knowledge for emergency managers in hospitals and other healthcare facilities as well as healthcare coalitions, local health departments, tribes and others.

This series is the third Tuesday every month from 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. For registration, visit MI-TRAIN, course ID # 1112624 for the entire series. 

Preparedness Lunch and Learn Topics

American Medical Association (AMA): How Tribal Medical Education Programs Could Solve the Rural Health Care Crisis
In the latest episode of the AMA Update podcast, AMA takes a look at Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine’s unique partnership with The Cherokee Nation. Natasha Bray, DO, dean of OSUCOM at the Cherokee Nation, joins to share how this innovative partnership came to life and the impact it’s expected to have in the local community. Dr. Bray details the unique clinical training students receive and why it’s important for physicians to truly understand the communities they serve. Listen to the full podcast episode from AMA.

Access and Functional Needs (AFN) Web-Based Training​
ASPR has developed the HHS/ ASPR Access and Functional Needs (AFN) Web-Based Training to help public health officials, emergency managers, and social/human service providers learn how to address Access and Functional Needs (AFN) in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. This is great class to take yourself and to share with HCC partners.
​
PDF fact sheet for more information
To take the course


Operation Shelter-in-Place: A HazMat Incident – Training & Exercise Program for Healthcare Facilities
​The Northeast Florida Healthcare Coalition (HCC) and Northeast Florida Local Emergency Planning Committee for Hazardous Materials (LEPC) partnered to create a training and exercise program intended to enhance the shelter-in-place capabilities of healthcare facilities in the event of a hazardous materials incident. The materials provided may be useful tools that you may use when creating similar education, training, and exercise items that meet the needs of our Michigan partners and facilities.
Operation Shelter-in-Place Training & Exercise Documents

Free Emergency Preparedness Training Available
The Advancing Resilience for Community Health in Emergency Response (ARCHER) program is a free series of resources and training on emergency preparedness topics designed for health center staff. 

Developed by Healthcare Ready and the Centene Charitable Foundation, ARCHER provides resources for those responsible for daily preparedness planning and individuals new to the field and interested in learning more. Training resources are provided to guide teams through: 

• Emergency response planning and preparation 
• Strengthening local partnerships for crisis response 
• Crisis communications 
• Supporting frontline staff through sustained disasters 
• Intro to cybersecurity preparedness 
• ARCHER is completely free and available today. Get started by exploring free resources.

Get started today by visiting or contacting the Healthcare Ready team to learn more at [email protected].

Free resources are available here!


Free On-Demand Webinars
Available free of charge until January 19, 2024
In celebration of Health Law Week, the American Health Law Association (AHLA) is providing two on-demand, previously recorded, webinars at no charge January 8-19, 2024:

• The Future is Now: AI in Health Care
• Value-Based Care: Options, Barriers, Opportunities, and the New Normal

Recording Available: Lessons Learned from the Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital Fire
For anyone unable to attend the webinar, the recording and PowerPoint slides for Lessons Learned from the Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital Fire held on December 14, 2023 are now available. The PowerPoint presentation is now available on ASPR TRACIE (link below). The title page of the PowerPoint presentation includes a link to the webinar recording. The recording can also be directly accessed by clicking the link below. It will ask you to enter your name and email address prior to accessing the recording. Note that the short video showing the start of the fire and very initial response cannot be viewed during the recording. Signature Healthcare will release the full video at a future date.

PowerPoint Slides
Recorded Presentation