GAO urges improved coordination in HHS emergency preparedness programs

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has published a report titled "Public Health Preparedness: Improved Coordination Needed for HHS’s Emergency Preparedness Programs.”

According to the analysis, the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) emergency preparedness programs for public health departments and healthcare systems are in need of coordination.

Based on this, GAO is recommending actions for HHS to take:

• The Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and the Director of CDC should execute an action plan to coordinate the two programs. GAO suggests taking their “Leading Practices to Enhance Interagency Collaboration and Address Crosscutting Challenges” into account.
• Jurisdictions should be notified by the CDC’s Director “how the required Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) activities support the development of the public health preparedness capabilities.”
• Jurisdictions should be notified by the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response how the chosen Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) actions bolster healthcare preparedness.
• Both the Director of CDC and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response should investigate whether jurisdictions are able to accomplish the preparedness actions for their respected programs.

HHS is required to submit a letter on the status of the above actions over the summer.