September 20, 2009 By News Report
An investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General gave states and localities poor grades in preparing for a pandemic such as the H1N1 flu expected this fall.The report, State and Local Pandemic Influenza Preparedness: Medical Surge, cited deficiencies in several areas, including recruiting volunteers and developing electronic systems to manage them. None of the five surveyed states had fully implemented an electronic system for managing medical volunteers, even though required by ASPR to have such systems in place by last month. All 10 localities had acquired limited caches of medical equipment; however, many experienced difficulties with managing this equipment. In addition, only three of the five states had implemented electronic systems to track available hospital beds and medical equipment during an emergency.
Other deficiencies were noted in securing alternate care sites, in preparing guidelines for altering triage, admission and patient care, and documenting lessons learned from surge activities.
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Based off of discussions of the Digital Communities Large Jurisdiction Chief Information Officer (CIO) Working Group, this white paper aims to answer the question, "In today's economic, political and business environment, what constitutes a successful relationship between government and industry?" Cause for Optimism identifies and clarifies the issues that separate government and industry, and begins to find an answer to the question necessary for both to enjoy a successful and prosperous future.
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Digital Communities (DC) is e.Republic‘s local government program. The particular strength of DC is its focus on encouraging collaboration and creating productive relationships between and among cities, counties, regions and select private sector companies uniquely positioned to help improve the delivery of public services.
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