HOMELAND SECURITY: New Department Could Improve Coordination but May Complicate Priority Setting

摘要

Federal, state, and local government agencies have differing roles with regard to public health emergency preparedness and response. The federal government conducts a variety of activities, including developing interagency response plans, increasing state and local response capabilities, developing and deploying federal response teams, increasing the availability of medical treatments, participating in and sponsoring exercises, planning for victim aid, and providing support in these of disaster and during special events such as the Olympic games. One of its main functions is to provide support for the primary responders at the state and local level, including emergency medical service personnel, public health officials, doctors, and nurses. This support is critical because the burden of response falls initially on state and local emergency response agencies. The President's proposal transfers control over many of the programs that provide preparedness and response support for the state and local governments to a new Department of Homeland Security. Among other changes, the proposed legislation transfers HHS's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness to the new department. Included in this transfer is the Office of Emergency Preparedness (OEP), which currently leads the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) in conjunction with several other agencies and the Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS). The Strategic National Stockpile currently administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), would also be transferred, although the Secretary of HHS would still manage the stockpile and continue to determine its contents. The President's proposal would also transfer the select agent registration enforcement program from HHS to the new department.