Attention from the Top: Roles of State Offices of Rural Health Policy in Preparing for Bioterrorism and Other Health System Emergencies.

摘要

Several years ago, the federal Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) released a report on perspectives of directors of state offices of rural health on emergency preparedness in rural communities. State directors expressed concerns over whether hospital and public health infrastructure capacity was adequate for meeting preparedness needs and about their state's lack of resources for preparedness in rural areas. Since release of this report, billions of dollars have been granted to the states for use in strengthening capacity to respond to bioterrorist threats and other emergencies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA). Numerous parties at the state and local levels of government, and private sector health care providers and other emergency personnel have been involved in CDC and HRSA grant-related funding work. This report presents results from a follow-up survey of directors of state offices of rural health. A telephone survey of directors of state offices of rural health was used to identify state office involvement with emergency preparedness (EP) activities. Questions were asked about involvement with issues that were likely to impact rural communities and providers, including development of state and local response plans, systems for electronic exchange of information, and completion of hospital preparedness assessments. Questions were also used to assess the overall level of the office's involvement in EP activities and the director's perceptions of EP and the evolution of preparedness in rural areas of their state.