U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers Secretary Xavier Becerra right this moment declared a Public Well being Emergency for the state of South Carolina to handle the well being impacts of Hurricane Ian. The declaration follows President Biden’s emergency declaration and offers the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Providers (CMS), well being care suppliers and suppliers, better flexibility in assembly emergency well being wants of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.
“Hurricane Ian is carving a damaging path alongside the southeast, putting the well being of hundreds of thousands of individuals in danger,” mentioned Secretary Becerra. “We’re working intently with state, native and tribal well being authorities to guard the well being of everybody doable and save lives.”
As of right this moment, HHS had greater than 300 personnel deployed and accessible to reply in coordination with state well being officers, hospitals, and FEMA. These professionals embody incident administration groups and medical groups from the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), each a part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), and are specialists in augmenting, bolstering, and offering reduction to hospitals and different healthcare amenities in want.
These specialists are working with FEMA, ASPR Regional Emergency Coordinators (RECs), state well being authorities, and emergency response officers to find out what, if any, extra federal public well being and medical assets will be deployed to assist in responding to the hurricane.
“We stand prepared to help officers in South Carolina in responding quickly to the general public well being and medical impacts of this storm,” mentioned Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Daybreak O’Connell. “HHS has extra professionals from NDMS, the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention prepared to offer federal medical care and public well being help if wanted.”
HHS additionally has data accessible from the HHS emPOWER program, a partnership between ASPR and CMS, to help public well being emergency planning and response actions. This system supplies useful data on the variety of Medicare beneficiaries who depend on electricity-dependent sturdy medical tools and sure healthcare companies, akin to dialysis, oxygen tank, or residence well being, to assist anticipate, plan for, and reply to the wants of at-risk residents in doubtlessly impacted areas.
In declaring the public health emergency and authorizing flexibilities for CMS beneficiaries, Secretary Becerra acted inside his authority beneath the Public Well being Service Act and Social Safety Act. These actions and flexibilities are retroactive to September 25, 2022.
Extra data relating to Public Well being Emergency declarations will be discovered at https://aspr.hhs.gov/legal/PHE/Pages/default.aspx.