In the United States, a public health emergency declaration releases resources meant to handle an actual or potential public health crisis. Recent examples include: * Incidents of flooding * Severe weather * the

2009 swine flu pandemic The 2009 swine flu pandemic, caused by the H1N1 influenza virus and declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) from June 2009 to August 2010, is the third recent flu pandemic involving the H1N1 virus (the first being the 1918–1920 Sp ...

, which

Homeland Security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" t ...

Secretary

Janet Napolitano Janet Ann Napolitano (; born November 29, 1957) is an American politician, lawyer, and university administrator who served as the 21st governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009 and third United States secretary of homeland security from 2009 to 20 ...

described as a "declaration of emergency preparedness." * the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

*the

2022 monkeypox outbreak An ongoing outbreak of monkeypox, a viral disease, was confirmed in May 2022. The initial cluster of cases was found in the United Kingdom, where the first case was detected in London on 6 May 2022 in a patient with a recent travel his ...

The National Disaster Medical System Federal Partners Memorandum of Agreement defines a public health emergency as ''"an emergency need for health care edicalservices to respond to a disaster, significant outbreak of an infectious disease, bioterrorist attack or other significant or catastrophic event."'' In order to activate the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), "''a public health emergency may include but is not limited to, public health emergencies declared by the Secretary of HHS ealth and Human Servicesunder 42 U.S.C. 247d, or a declaration of a major disaster or emergency under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act), 42 U.S.C. 5121-5206)."'' The declaration of public health emergency in the March 2009 flood of the Red River in

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, ...

was made under section 319 of the

Public Health Service Act The Public Health Service Act is a United States federal law enacted in 1944. The full act is codified in Title 42 of the United States Code (The Public Health and Welfare), Chapter 6A ( Public Health Service). Contents The act clearly establ ...

. Under section 1135 of the

Social Security Act The Social Security Act of 1935 is a law enacted by the 74th United States Congress and signed into law by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The law created the Social Security program as well as insurance against unemployment. The law w ...

, this declaration permits the state government to request waivers of certain Medicare,

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and per ...

, and

CHIP Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a type of immunoprecipitation experimental technique used to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA in the cell. It aims to determine whether specific proteins are associated with specific genom ...

requirements from the

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is a federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer M ...

(CMS) Regional Office. Examples include allowing Medicare health plan beneficiaries to go out of network, allowing critical access hospitals to take more than the statutorily mandated limit of 25 patients, and not counting the expected longer lengths of stay for evacuated patients against the 96-hour average. FEMA - 7797 - Photograph by Jocelyn Augustino taken on 03-12-2003 in District of Columbia

FEMA - 7797 - Photograph by Jocelyn Augustino taken on 03-12-2003 in District of Columbia

In the swine flu outbreak, the declaration allowed the distribution of a federal stockpile of 12 million doses of

Tamiflu Oseltamivir, sold under the brand name Tamiflu, is an antiviral medication used to treat and prevent influenza A and influenza B, viruses that cause the flu. Many medical organizations recommend it in people who have complications or are at hi ...

to places where states could quickly get their share if they decided they needed it, with priority going to the five states with known cases. Because

Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

's choice for Secretary of HHS,

Kathleen Sebelius Kathleen Sebelius (; née Gilligan, born May 15, 1948) is an American businesswoman and politician who served as the 21st United States secretary of Health and Human Services from 2009 until 2014. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebel ...

, had not yet been confirmed, the public announcement of the emergency was made by President Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano. However, Charles Johnson, acting HHS secretary, made the formal determination of a public health emergency under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. § 247d. The NDMS defines a military health emergency as ''"an emergency need for hospital services to support the armed forces for casualty care arising from a major military operation, disaster, significant outbreak of an infectious disease, bioterrorist attack, or other significant or catastrophic event."''

References

*Sylves, Richard T. and William L. Waugh, Jr. (1996). Disaster Management in the U.S. and Canada: The Politics, Policymaking, Administration and Analysis of Emergency Management, 2nd edition. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, Publisher, LTD (). *Anderson, James (2011). Public Policymaking, 7th edition. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning ({{ISBN, 0-618-97472-5).

External links

List of Public Health Emergency Declarations issued by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services
United States Public Health Service Health disasters in the United States

See also

References

External links