About Us

Who We Are

The North Carolina Healthcare Preparedness Program (NC HPP) began in 2002, in response to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. The program was initially focused on Hospital Bioterrorism preparedness and response efforts through federal funding. While the program has had several different lead federal agencies oversee the program, currently the Administration of Strategic Preparedness & Response (ASPR) Hospital Preparedness Program Cooperative Agreement is the primary funding source for this program. The funding is provided to support healthcare systems in saving lives during emergencies and disasters when overwhelmed. Currently the program focuses on the utilization of regional Healthcare Coalitions (HCC) to improve patient outcomes and enable rapid recovery from catastrophic incidents impacting the healthcare system.

The North Carolina HPP program, through the North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services (NCOEMS), has the responsibility of overseeing the seven (7) healthcare coalitions across the State. A healthcare coalition (HCC) is a regionalized group of individual healthcare and response organizations working together to increase preparedness and response capabilities. The Healthcare Coalitions across North Carolina work in tandem with the NC Healthcare Preparedness Program to meet the overall program vision of Building a Prepared, Resilient, and Sustainable Healthcare Community.

Federal & State Partnerships

The HPP Program is fully funded through the Administration of Strategic Preparedness & Response (ASPR) Hospital Preparedness Program Cooperative Agreement, under the US Department of Health & Human Services.

We also work closely with our other State Partners who receive federal funding for emergency preparedness and response programs. The NC Division of Public Health oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement (PHEP) and NC Emergency Management manages a variety US Department of Homeland Security/FEMA grant programs.

What We Do

Additionally, the NC HPP is part of the North Carolina Emergency Management (NCEM) State Emergency Response Team (SERT) as the Emergency Support Function – 8 (ESF-8) lead for Disaster Medical Services. As part of these responsibilities NC HPP maintains certain capabilities which include:

Medical Sheltering
Mass Patient Movement
Federal Coordination Centers
All Hazards Incident Management Team Support
Morgue Capacity
State Medical Assistance Teams
Mobile Disaster Hospital / Field Hospitals
Infrastructure & Logistical Support

Key responsibilities include: supporting healthcare partners through planning, training, and exercising, and providing a connection between local and regional partners to help ensure capabilities are restored following emergencies and disasters HCCs serve as multiagency coordinating groups that support and integrate with ESF-8 activities in jurisdictional incident command systems.

State Medical Response System