Patient Movement Overview
The North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services (NCOEMS) has the responsibility for emergency mass patient movement as part of the Emergency Support Function (ESF) 8 for the NC State Emergency Response Team (NC SERT).
State Medical Support Shelter (SMSS)
When evacuations are necessary due to a hurricane or other disaster, shelters are established to accommodate those displaced. OEMS has the responsibility of establishing and overseeing State Medical Support Shelters (SMSS). The SMSS is established to provide shelter for individuals requiring specialized healthcare attention due to a disruption in their community healthcare support system.
Disaster Hospital Patient Movement
The North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services (NCOEMS) has the responsibility for emergency mass patient movement as part of the Emergency Support Function (ESF) 8 for the NC State Emergency Response Team (NC SERT). Patient movement is coordinated with the Statewide Patient Coordination team. This team includes representatives of the transfer centers from the large health systems.
Patient Movement Process
Patient Movement Planning Forms
This form is completed by the sending entity (Hospital, Local County, Etc.) as a planning tool once they are considering the need to move patients/residents due to an impending disaster. The form requires basic information regarding the number of patients and their mode of transportation. This form is not an official request to move patients, but a planning document that should be completed well in advance of a disaster if possible, as it helps drive State-Level decisions about resource management.
Patient Movement Placement Forms
Once the decision has been made that a patient needs to be moved, there are two forms available to submit details regarding each patient, these are the individual and bulk patient movement forms. These forms should be submitted as soon as possible to help increase the likelihood that patients can be relocated in a timely manner.
Individual Patient Movement Form: This form requires specific information about each individual patient so that a decision about patient placement can easily be made. Details include: patient demographics, pertinent medical history (why they need placement), and location/contact information. Once the form is submitted, the patient movement team will begin by reviewing each individual patient form to determine placement.
Bulk Patient Movement Form: The bulk patient movement form works exactly like the individual patient movement form, but it allows you to upload an excel spreadsheet with multiple patients on the same sheet. It is necessary that all the information required for each patient on the individual form be completed on the spreadsheet for each patient in the bulk upload. Once submitted, our team will then import these patients over into the individual patient movement form, so that each patient can be reviewed separately.
Statewide Patient Coordination Team
Hospital patient movement is coordinated by NCOEMS along with the Statewide Patient Coordination Team. This team is made of representatives from the transfer centers from the large health systems across North Carolina. Currently, there are 12 centers that participate, which represents nearly 85% of all hospitals in North Carolina. The goal of this team is to increase efficiency for patient movement due to need for hospital evacuation/de-risking from anticipated or unexpected incidents.
Patient Movement Submission Links
Please visit our internal resources Patient Movement Links page for live links to submit planning and patient forms.
