Title: Emergency Preparedness: Essentials for Business Continuity Planning For Community Health Centers
1Emergency Preparedness Essentials for Business
Continuity Planning For Community Health Centers
- Presented by Bernadette Johnson and H. Duane
Taylor
2Outline
- Learning Objectives
- Overview of Continuity of Operations Planning
(COOP)/Business Continuity Plan - Special Considerations for Health Centers
- Developing Your COOP -Elements of a Viable COOP
- Implementing Your COOP
- Test Your COOP
- Self-Assessment Tool
- Resources
3Learning Objectives
- To introduce participants to business continuity
planning and the process by which organizations
ensure maintenance of critical operations when
confronted with adverse events. - To provide strategies to organizations regarding
risk management as it relates to business
continuity planning in order to minimize recovery
time. - To provide essential elements in the design of an
effective business continuity plan for health
centers
4Overview of COOP
- Continuity of Operations (COOP) is a Federal
Initiative, required by Presidential Directive,
to ensure the Executive Branch departments and
agencies are able to continue to perform their
essential functions under a broad range of
possible hazardous circumstances. - For Health Centers and other business entities,
COOPs are called Business Continuity Planning and
ensures that a business can maintain operations
beyond an EP event. - FEMA is the lead agency that is mandated to
provide training and technical assistance to
agencies in developing and testing their COOP
5Overview of COOP -2
- Federal Preparedness Circular (FP)-65 requires
that all Federal Executive Branch agencies must
have a COOP plan which includes some of the
following elements - Be operational no later than 12 hours after
activation - Be able to maintain sustained operations for up
to 30 days - Include regular testing, training and exercising
of personnel, equipment, systems, processes, and
procedures used to support the agency during an
EP event - Locate alternative site facilities in areas where
the ability to initiate, maintain and terminate
COOP is optimal
6Benefits of COOP
- Business Continuity Planning is a good business
practice for health centers. - It is part of the fundamental mission of health
centers to be a central, responsible and reliable
public institution that provide essential health
services to communities. Moreover, HRSA has
strongly encouraged that business plans for
health centers include EP plans. It is critical
that the EP plan include Business Continuity
Planning. - In todays changing environment, where EP
disasters are not uncommon, the need for health
centers to have a viable plan to determine how
they will maintain and sustain their business is
critical.
7Special Considerations for Health Centers
- As health centers, there are various precautions
we must explore in Business Continuity Planning,
including - Pharmacy/Medications
- Security of patients/staff
- Medical Supplies
- Interoperable Communications with Hospitals,
Health Departments, PCAs, and the State - Family Support Planning for our staff
- EP Insurance
8Developing Your COOP
- There are Nine (9) Essential elements for
creating a viable COOP/Business Continuity Plan,
which include - Essential Functions
- Delegations of Authority
- Alternative Facilities
- Interoperable Communications
- Vital Records and Databases
- Human Capital Management
- Test, Training and Exercises
- Devolution
- Reconstitution
91. Essential Functions
- A central component of developing your COOP is to
determine and prioritize the essential functions
at your agency. Essential functions are the
agencys business functions that must continue
with no or minimal disruption. - Essential functions are based on the agencys
customers and needs. It is important to remember
that a broad brush approach should not be used
when determining essential functions at your
health center. - The continuity of essential functions will be
driven by the availability of Training
personnel, Vital records/databases, Supplies and
Equipment/Systems
10Suggestions when determining essential functions
- For health centers some suggestions in
prioritizing essential functions are to examine
the functions that enable an organization to - Provide vital services
- Maintain the safety of the general public and
staff within your health center - Sustain your agency financially during a crisis
and beyond.
112. Delegation of Authority
- Delegation of Authority is used for a specific
purposes during an EP event for Business
Continuity Planning. Delegations should be
pre-determined and documented in writing. The
document should specify any limitations on the
delegated authority and should be as specific as
possible. - Delegation of Authority specifies who is
authorized to make decision are act on behalf of - The Department or Agency Head
- Other Key Individuals
122. Delegation of Authority-Order of Succession
- Orders of succession are provisions for the
assumption of senior agency leadership positions
during an emergency when the incumbents are
unable or unavailable to execute their duties.
Succession is the order of who is in charge where
in delegation of authority is the responsible
from one person to another.
133. Alternative Facilities
- During an EP event, if necessary, an alternative
facility may need to be established. The
alternative facility should be pre-determined.
All health centers should examine if they had to
have bare bones operations and could not utilize
their primary site location could they create an
alternative site location in the community.
Moreover, how long would it take to be
operational at that alternative site location.
Any staff that requires relocation to the
alternative facility are part of the Emergency
Relocation Group (ERG). - Alternate facility sites may include
- Other health centers
- Community Locations (e.g. library)
- Telecommuting for your staff
144. Interoperable Communications
- Interoperable Communications are communications
that provide the capacity to perform essential
functions, in conjunction with other agencies,
until normal operations can be resumed. - In order to have effective interoperable
communications an agency must be able to
communicate - Externally with the organizations customers and
business partners - Internally with the organizations leadership and
co-workers - The KEY to interoperable communications is
Connectivity
154. Interoperable Communications-2
- Interoperable communications must also be
- Redundant
- Available within 12 hours of activation, or less,
depending on the mission and requirements of the
organization. - Sustainable for up to 30 days
165. Vital Records and Databases
- In Business Continuity Planning or COOP, there
are 2 main types of records - Emergency Operating Records-which includes plans,
directives, delegations of authority, or staffing
assignments and orders of succession in order to
implement your Business Continuity Plan. - Legal and Financial Records-which includes,
medical records, personnel records, payroll
records, insurance records and contractor records
(e.g. agreements). - Copies of medical records as well as offsite
computer file storage is strongly recommending.
176. Human Capital Management
- During COOP activation, health centers will have
to perform their essential functions with reduced
staffing. Human capital, then, is critical to
ensuring the flexibilities required of ERG
personnel. Agencies should ensure that all ERG
personnel are adequately trained and
cross-trained to enable the performance of all
essential functions. - All employees, ERG and non ERG need to be kept
informed during the course of an emergency - Family Emergency Planning is important for any
emergency but is strongly to be encouraged for a
COOP event
18Family Emergency Planning
- A COOP situation will affect you and your teams
families - There will be a period of uncertainty about what
is happening, how bad the situation is, and what
you should do to protect yourself and your loved
ones. - You may feel unsure of your job security,
particularly if the threat is severe - You may also be concerned for your financial well
being. - It is imperative that your agency develop a
family emergency plan. At a minimum the plan
should include - Contact and communication information
- An immediate emergency checklist that includes
medical, financial and legal information and
other important documents. - Supplies, including medication, for at least 72
hours
197. Test, Training and Exercises
- Test, Training and Exercises (TTE) include
measures to ensure that agencies COOP program is
able to support the continued execution of its
essential functions throughout an EP event. - Health Centers perform TTE to ensure that
- All equipment and systems work as required
- Employees are able to deploy to the alternative
facility within the required time frame. - The alternate facility includes everything that
is needed for the ERG to perform essential
functions.
208. Devolution
- Devolution is the capability to transfer and
delegate authority to other members of the team
in order to carry out essential functions when
primary team members are incapable of performing
necessary functions. Remember that this is
generally for a specified time period and limited
authority that has been delegated. - Think of it is brining in the reserve players!
219. Reconstitution/Recovery
- Reconstitution is the process by which agency
personnel resume normal operations from the
original or replacement primary operating
facility. - Agencies must identify and outline a plan to
return to normal operations. This plan should
have time lines, resources needed (including )
and be as specific as possible. - It is encouraged that health centers appoint a
Reconstitution Manager to oversee the
reconstitution process.
22Other Considerations for Developing Your Plan
- Utilize Your Hazard Vulnerability Assessment in
your planning. - Perform a Business Impact Analysis-which
identifies the process of confirming what the
critical functions are and prioritization of
business services. - Examine Key Leadership-Roles and Responsibilities
and create an outline and staffing chart. - Create an Activation Plan-describes the specific
events or conditions that will trigger or invoke
the plan. - Communications Planning- include
internal/external communications as well as
personnel notification and media.
23Recap of Developing an Business Continuity Plan
- Utilize the 9 Essential Elements for COOP
- Use Elements of Your EP plan to drive the
continuity plan - Remember Risk Management as a critical component
- Time Specific
- Test and Train on the COOP
24Continuity of Operations Self Assessment Tool
- This tool is designed to assist in the
development of your COOP Plan and to assess the
plan for all considerations. - The Self Assessment is promulgated on FPC 65
guidance so we need to make it apply to health
centers. - Utilize it as a broad based template for planning
and exercise purposes.
25Resources
- Your PCA
- NACHC
- FEMA-great online course-http//www.training.fema.
gov/EMIWeb/IS/is546.asp
26Quiz-Question 1
- For Agencies at the beginning stage of COOP
planning, determining ________ must be completed
before moving onto any other area of COOP
planning. - A. Essential Functions
- B. Orders of Succession
- C. Delegation of Authority
- D. Communication Needs
27Quiz-Question 2
- 2. Essential functions include all functions that
have been explicitly assigned by law or by order
of the President in a COOP plan. (True or False) - A. True
- B. False
28Quiz-Question 3
- 3. Interoperable communications include access to
data, systems, and services. (True or False) - A. True
- B. False
29Quiz-Question 4
- 4. Business Continuity Planning only considers
Terrorist threats. (True or False) - A. True
- B. False
30Quiz-Question 5
- 5. The term ERG stands for
- A. Emergency Redesign Graphics
- B. Emergency Redundancy Group
- C. Emergency Regrouping Guidelines
- D. Emergency Recovery Group
31Quiz-Question 6
- 6. Family Emergency Planning is not a
consideration in COOP. (True or False) - A. True
- B. False
32Thank You!