AHA has shared the following Cyber Alert for hospitals:

A U.S.-led airstrike January 3 in Iraq eliminated Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Although the U.S. government has not identified a specific threat from Iran targeting U.S. health care, the public has been asked to remain vigilant for physical and cyber-based suspicious activity.

Many in the U.S. government believe that Iran will attempt a retaliatory strike against U.S. interests overseas or potentially against U.S. critical infrastructure via a cyberattack. Iran has used cyberattacks to conduct retaliatory strikes against the U.S. in the past and possesses a significant offensive cyber capability, including the ability to destroy data, disrupt computer networks and cause significant financial loss. If cyberattacks against other U.S. critical infrastructure or entities occur, collateral damage or disruption to health care...

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) released the following guidelines for hospitals and health care facilities to consider to ensure they are prepared for possible attacks on public infrastructure.

In collaboration with HC3, H-ISAC, DHS and the law enforcement community, ASPR is actively monitoring an increase in malicious cyber activities as result of heightened tensions between the United States and Iran. In the past, the Iranian regime actors and proxies have initiated destructive attacks against United States infrastructure; however, there are currently no specific, credible threats against U.S. infrastructure.

Iran and their proxies have often employed "wiper" attacks that are more destructive than ransomware or denial of service attacks. Yesterday, the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) issued a statement encouraging all critical infrastructure operators to ...

Gateway Rehabilitation Hospital in Florence will host an Active Shooter Preparedness Seminar on October 24.

The program will be presented by Gregory A. Howard, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Protective Security Advisor - Kentucky District since 2009. As a Protective Security Advisor, Howard supports Kentucky’s homeland security efforts by facilitating, coordinating and performing vulnerability assessments for critical infrastructures and assets, and by acting as a physical and technical security advisor to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Prior to serving in this role, Howard retired from the U.S. Coast Guard as a Commander with over 22 years of maritime law enforcement, safety and security experience.

To attend, please RSVP to Chad Beasley at Gateway Rehabilitation Hospital (859-426-2373).

On Wednesday, September 9, the Kentucky Public Health Preparedness Branch's quarterly Health and Medical Preparedness Advisory Committee (HMPAC), and the HPP Leadership Meeting will feature a webinar presentation on Human Trafficking in Health Care by Dr. Wendy Macias-Konstantopoulos, MD, MPH, from the Department of Emergency Medicine, Division of Global Health & Human Rights, at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School.

This presentation has been coordinated by Joe Magana, Baptist Health's System Director for Safety, Security and Emergency Preparedness. Magana first encountered this problem while in a similar role at Baptist Health Louisville, and has come to find that human trafficking is a major problem in Kentucky, especially around the Kentucky Derby and other special events.

KentuckyOne Health shared in a recent article the human trafficking...

The updated "Active Shooter Planning and Response in a Healthcare Setting" guidance document, produced by the Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council, has been approved and is posted to the FBI Active Shooter resource site: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cirg/active-shooter-and-mass-casualty-incidents/active-shooter-planning-and-response-in-a-healthcare-setting.

KHA extends its thanks to Scott...

The Kentucky Department for Public Health’s (KDPH) Preparedness Branch has developed a complete package of Ebola Tabletop Exercise (TTX) materials to help hospitals, public health agencies, health care organizations and coalitions with their Ebola preparedness planning. The package, titled “Out of Africa”, should help work through the process of how to handle an Ebola patient, and to identify and address related issues. You can reach the package on the KHA website via the new KHA Ebola Updates page, which will have the latest information available on preparing your facility.

You are encouraged to review the complete package, and to consider conducting an exercise to review and improve your processes, protocols and procedures.

The package includes:

Situation Manual PowerPoint to help conduct the exercise Exercise Evaluation Guides After Action/Improvement...

In light of the recent diagnosis of a patient with the Ebola virus within the United States, KHA is providing more updates to help hospitals stay abreast of the most up-to-date information available.

The KHA website's Emergency Preparedness page will have the very latest information at the very top of the page. This morning, KHA staff added links and information on:

• CDC Clinician Telebriefing on Friday, October 3
• Latest CDC Health Advisory
• CDC's newly updated screening guidelines
• CDC's updated Ebola guidance for EMS
• Kentucky Public Health's new FAQ on Ebola

AHA shared a Readiness Advisory with its members on Thursday, October 2:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response have issued Ebola screening criteria for the entire health care community, including emergency responders, to ensure that they are able to protect, detect and respond to the virus. They recommend that these screening criteria be placed in all emergency departments, ambulances and other “first contact” locations, including outpatient clinics.

The AHA strongly encourages all hospitals and clinics to post these Ebola screening criteria prominently in locations where hospital staff – including intake, triage and clinical staff – can see it. The key to preventing the spread of Ebola is to identify and isolate potential cases as quickly as possible. This outbreak...

Two recent articles from the Annals of Internal Medicine are available to help your build Ebola preparedness within your facility. The first discusses the Safe Management of Patients With Serious Communicable Diseases: Recent Experience With Ebola Virus. It has a health care worker, personal protective equipment (PPE) and emergency medical services (EMS) focus. It notes that health care workers inconsistently adhere to such basic infection control practices as hand hygiene, and EMS provider adherence to infection control precautions and equipment disinfection can be suboptimal.

The second article looks at Preparing for Critical Care Services to Patients with Ebola. It mentions the factors that increase the risk of caring for critically ill patients with Ebola include the low infectious dose of Ebola (1 to 10 viral particles), the high quantity of virus shed in the large volume of body fluids produced during illness, the close and extended patient contact time required of providers, the need...

(From Jim House, KDPH Preparedness Branch) - On August 27, the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services (KBEMS) and the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) conducted an introductory training on the Patient Tracking Module of Resource Bridge, a web-based system from ImageTrend, Inc. Key personnel from the Kentucky Hospital Association, the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, the Northern Kentucky Independent District Health Department, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness, the University of Louisville and Shelby County EMS participated in this training and provided valuable feedback to assist in the continued implementation of the system. Resource Bridge Patient Tracking is a database-driven web application for tracking patients...

On March 27, KHA submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the proposed Conditions of Participation (CoP) rule regarding emergency preparedness requirements for Medicare and Medicaid participating providers and suppliers.

A copy of KHA's comment letter is available at http://www.kyha.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/KHAResponsetoCMSCOPEPRules.pdf.

The AHA released a Regulatory Advisory on this topic. It is available at http://www.kyha.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/EmergencyPreparednessCOP_ProposedRule_RegulatoryAdv.pdf.

For further information, please contact Richard Bartlett at KHA (502-426-6220 or 800-945-4542 or via e-mail at rbartlett@kyha.com)....

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a proposed rule in the Federal Register that establishes national emergency preparedness requirements for Medicare and Medicaid providers and suppliers to ensure that they adequately plan for both natural and man-made disasters.

The proposed rule addresses emergency preparedness requirements that 17 provider and supplier types must meet in order to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

This proposed rule could have a significant impact on hospitals. For example, the rule includes language that relates to the behavior of the new electronic health record (EHR) systems during a disaster or emergency, and a requirement that EHR systems be redundantly backed up both in region and out of region.

KHA Emergency Preparedness Director Richard Bartlett has prepared resources for hospitals to educate themselves regarding the proposed changes and to prepare in case the rule is approved. Visit http://www.kyha.com/proposed-rule-change-on-cop-related-to-emergency-preparedness/...

If a federally declared disaster occurs in Kentucky, non-profit and government health care facilities may be eligible for some reimbursement from FEMA via the Kentucky Emergency Management Recovery Branch (KyEM). To prepare for such events, it is important for your facility to have a financial or emergency preparedness staff member trained in advance in order to understand the process and be ready to act.

Note that for-profit facilities may be able to receive reimbursement for some expenditures if they work with their local government.

Jessica Mitchell, recovery branch manager of the The Kentucky Emergency Management Recovery Branch, will teach an Applicant Agent Certification Program on January 31 in Louisville. This certification will enable designated Applicant Agents to maximize federal disaster-related funding associated with the FEMA Public Assistance Program. Certification will be awarded to those who successfully complete the Applicant Agent training. Certified Applicant Agents will be...