HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response

10/20/2026

HHS Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Sean Kaufman gave Congressional staff an inside look at the team HHS relies on when a hurricane like Isaias makes landfall: the HHS Secretary's Operations Center.

Led by ASPR and staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, the SOC is the Department's hub for situational awareness. It brings together data from across HHS, interagency partners, and state and local partners, synthesizes it in real time, and delivers the insight senior leaders need to make decisions with confidence.

A hurricane does not wait for an outbreak to end, and the opioid crisis does not pause for a supply chain disruption. The SOC tracks them all, often at the same time, so HHS leaders can remain informed and respond rapidly when disaster strikes.

10/19/2026

In Arizona, the Maricopa County Department of Public Health Medical Reserve Corps partnered with the county’s Environmental Services Vector Control Division to support mosquito prevention and vector-borne disease education.

Through the “Fight the Bite” initiative, trained MRC volunteers support educational programming in schools, libraries, and community events, helping residents learn about mosquito mitigation, environmental prevention, and personal protection.

In 2025, 82 MRC volunteers contributed 470 service hours to the program, helping support 143 outreach events that reached approximately 90,000 residents across Maricopa County. This is just one example of how MRC volunteers strengthen local public health capacity and help build healthier, more prepared communities.

To learn more about ways that MRC volunteers are helping in communities nationwide, visit aspr.gov/MRC.

🦟 Mosquito prevention starts with informed communities, and Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) volunteers are helping to spread the word.

The Maricopa County Department of Public Health MRC partnered with Maricopa County Environmental Services Vector Control Division to support its “Fight the Bite” outreach initiative. Trained MRC volunteers helped bring mosquito prevention and vector-borne disease education to schools, libraries, community events, and other organizations across the county.

Volunteers received specialized training on mosquito prevention, outreach messaging, age-appropriate educational activities, and how to engage participants during hands-on learning. At events, they helped distribute materials, guided students through activities, supported event logistics, and reinforced steps residents can take to protect themselves and their communities.

In 2025, the Vector Control Outreach Program:

🦟 Conducted 143 outreach events
👥 Reached approximately 90,000 residents
🙋 Engaged 82 MRC volunteers
⏱️ Received 470 volunteer service hours, valued at approximately $16,350

By lending their time and skills, MRC volunteers are expanding the reach of local public health education and helping communities take proactive steps to prevent mosquito-borne disease. To learn more about ways that MRC volunteers are helping in communities nationwide, visit aspr.gov/MRC.

10/19/2026

Rapid response matters in a chemical emergency. So does protecting responders.

We’re proud to launch the updated and modernized Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management (CHEMM) digital resource, designed to help responders make critical decisions quickly and safely during chemical incidents.

CHEMM provides trusted, easy to follow guidance to help responders identify chemical hazards and syndromes, assess patients, and make time-sensitive decisions about triage, treatment, and medical management.

What’s new:
✅Updated, trusted chemical emergency information
✅Clear pathways from initial assessment to patient care
✅Step-by-step medical guidance designed for field use
✅Enhanced responder protection and safety information
✅More user-friendly preparedness and planning resources

The modernized CHEMM was shaped by feedback from fire and EMS responders, clinicians, public health professionals, toxicologists, subject matter experts, and academic institutions to ensure it balances scientific accuracy with the realities of rapid response to chemical emergencies.

See how CHEMM can help your team protect responders and improve patient care from the first minutes on scene: https://chemm.hhs.gov/

10/16/2026

Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority- BARDA has identified nine priority emerging infectious disease threats that could be used to evaluate the adaptability of platform technologies designed to address pandemic influenza and priority CBRN threats.

A platform that can be adapted to detect, treat, or prevent the spread of emerging threats is worth far more than solutions designed to address a single target. These validation efforts provide BARDA a concrete way to assess that flexibility and give the nation a faster path from threat identification to countermeasure development.

By investing in platform-based approaches today, we're building the capabilities needed to respond to tomorrow's emerging threats.

Learn more about BARDA's approach to platform technologies: https://medicalcountermeasures.gov/newsroom/stories/preparing-for-the-unknown

10/16/2026

For health care coalitions, understanding risks across different facilities and communities can help inform preparedness priorities before a disaster hits. Steve Meir, a Readiness and Response Coordinator for a health care coalition serving the western suburbs of Chicago, shared how RISC 2.0 is supporting that work:

“As the Readiness and Response Coordinator for the Region 8 Healthcare Coalition serving the western suburbs of Chicago, I have found the RISC 2.0 system to be an invaluable tool for enhancing our understanding of risk across the healthcare sector. The platform provides a comprehensive view of both geographic-specific threats and facility-specific vulnerabilities, allowing us to better assess preparedness needs and prioritize mitigation efforts. The ability to combine external hazard data with internal organizational risk factors has given our coalition and participating facilities a more informed and data-driven approach to emergency preparedness and resilience planning.

During the first several years of implementation, we have focused primarily on hospitals, using RISC 2.0 to support risk assessments, planning initiatives, and preparedness discussions. The insights generated through the system have demonstrated its practical value, and we see significant potential for expanding its use to other healthcare facility types. In particular, we are interested in bringing long-term care facilities and other coalition partners into the platform so they can benefit from the same level of risk awareness and preparedness planning. We believe RISC 2.0 can play an important role in strengthening healthcare readiness across the entire continuum of care.”

Learn more about how RISC 2.0 can help your hospital or health care coalition strengthen resilience: https://www.aspr.gov/health-resources-tools/risc-toolkit-20

10/14/2026

HHS Secretary Kennedy declared public health emergencies in Florida and Alabama following . The Public Health Emergency Declaration gives Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services health care providers and suppliers more flexibility in meeting the emergency health needs of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Before the storm made landfall, ASPR helped states build resilience by putting actionable data in their hands. Through the HHS emPOWER Program, ASPR provided states in the impacted area with data they can use to support Medicare beneficiaries who rely on electricity-dependent medical equipment or certain essential health care services.

ASPR deployed regional personnel ahead of the storm and continues working with state and local partners to assess needs. In addition, ASPR deployed a Healthcare System Assessment Teams to evaluate the storm’s impact on healthcare facilities.

To learn more about ASPR’s response to Hurricane Isaias, see https://www.aspr.gov/news-updates/newsroom/2026-10/hhs-declares-public-health-emergencies-florida-alabama-hurricane-isaias.

10/02/2026

The effects of a disaster can continue long after the immediate response ends, especially for students, educators, and school communities navigating stress, loss, and disruption. Following Hurricane Helene, ASPR and partners brought together educators and school staff from across Western North Carolina to strengthen behavioral health recovery in schools with a full-day Behavioral Health Education Forum. Through trauma-responsive training, healing circles, peer connection, planning, and more, participants gained tools they could bring back to their classrooms and communities to support school recovery.

The impact extended beyond the forum:

🏫 22 educators and school staff representing 17 organizations participated.
💬 Participants developed more than 110 practical strategies to strengthen educator wellness, classroom environments, staff culture, and support networks.
🤝 95% reported high confidence in their ability to support behavioral health needs following the forum.

By equipping educators with tools and resources they can continue to use and share, ASPR's work helps to strengthen the support systems students and staff can rely on as their communities recover from disasters and prepare for future challenges. Learn more about behavioral health recovery in North Carolina:
https://www.aspr.gov/readiness-response/healthcare-readiness/recovery/stories-from-the-field/strengthening-behavioral-health-recovery-north

10/02/2026

ASPR is investing $2 million through the Trauma Care Readiness and Coordination Cooperative Agreement to support pilot projects to improve trauma care coordination, patient movement, data sharing, and disaster readiness.

Four recipients will receive $500,000 each to develop and test approaches that improve trauma system readiness and access to timely, appropriate care. These investments will be used to strengthen coordination among EMS, hospitals, trauma centers, and public health agencies.

The awardees will work to identify practical, scalable strategies for building stronger trauma care systems across the country, ultimately saving lives.

Find out more about these pilot projects here: https://www.aspr.gov/news-updates/newsroom/2026-10/invests-2-million-strengthen-trauma-care-readiness

10/01/2026

Cyber attacks have real-life impacts on hospitals and healthcare facilities. Recent ransomware attacks have caused hospitals to divert patients to other facilities and prevented providers from accessing patient records. Attacks have focused on small providers, healthcare systems, and everything in between.

Follow HHS Cyber this month as they share strategies to protect your IT infrastructure and patient data.

Visit the HHS Cyber Gateway at hhscyber.hhs.gov for resources to help your team . hhscyber.hhs.gov

Cybersecurity Awareness Month is about more than passwords; it’s about protecting health data and protecting patients. All month long, we’ll be sharing practical steps you can take to strengthen security in your everyday work.

Follow along this month for cyber tips! Secure the Next 250 and learn more about Cybersecurity Awareness Month at https://www.cisa.gov/cybersecurity-awareness-month

09/30/2026

When disaster forces people from their homes, recovery involves more than understanding where they went. Recovery operations also need to know whether displaced survivors can still access the health care and human services they rely on.

Following the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, ASPR worked through the Health, Education, and Human Services Recovery Support Function with state and local partners to turn data into actionable information. The team used geospatial and analytical tools to identify patterns in survivor relocation, map available health care and human services, and better understand where gaps in access existed. The resulting maps, charts, and reports gave decision-makers a clearer picture of regional needs to help partners identify gaps, prioritize recovery resources, and coordinate efforts across jurisdictions as communities worked to recover.

See how data and GIS tools can support informed decision-making throughout recovery and increase resilience: https://www.aspr.gov/readiness-response/healthcare-readiness/recovery/stories-from-the-field/using-data-gis-tools-support-access-services