FEMA reports continued progress in hospital preparedness

The Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) has strengthened health care systems' overall resilience and capacity to respond to disasters, according to the second annual National Preparedness Report released in May by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "Overall HPP performance has improved since 2011," the report states. "All HPP-funded states, localities and territories can report data on available beds within four hours of a request, and 88 percent of participating hospitals can report data on available beds to state emergency operations centers within 60 minutes." However, the report cautions that "continued job losses and funding cuts at state and local health departments, coupled with uncertainty in federal funding, could stall recent progress."

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