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The U.

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Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) leads the country in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from the adverse health effects of emergencies and disasters.

ASPR’s programs

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improve the nation’s ability to withstand adversity, strengthen health and emergency response systems, and enhance national health security.

ASPR’s Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) is the only source of federal funding specifically for health care delivery system readiness.

The purpose of this NOFO is to support the urgent preparedness and response needs of hospitals, health systems, and physicians and nurses on the front lines of the COVID-19 outbreak in order to help prepare them to identify, isolate, assess, transport, and treat patients with or persons under investigation for COVID-19 or other special pathogens.

This NOFO will provide targeted awards to 53 hospital associations in all states, the District of Columbia, New York City, and Puerto Rico.

Funding will be distributed to hospital associations using a formula specific to COVID-19, which takes into account criteria such as at-risk populations and other vulnerabilities associated with this pandemic (e.g., population density; size of populations with increased risk for mortality from COVID-19, such as older adults and individuals with comorbid health conditions; and health care capacity).

Hospital associations will then distribute funds to hospitals and related health care entities within their state or jurisdiction, which may be used to train staff to implement pandemic preparedness plans to respond to COVID-19; procure supplies and equipment (with attention to supply chain shortages); rapidly ramp up infection control and triage training for health care professionals, especially considering growing supply chain shortages; retrofit separate areas to screen and treat large numbers of persons with suspected COVID-19 infections; implement expanded telemedicine and telehealth capabilities, and; increase the numbers of patient care beds to provide surge capacity using temporary structures, such as temporary hospitals that are deployed in a pandemic.

ASPR will issue the full NOFO in Grants.gov on Thursday, March 2 6.