When a disaster hits, we are relying on a fragmented medical system to miraculously mount a timely, cohesive and effective recovery effort.
Yet, the carefully orchestrated and sequenced medical responses to disasters lean on a disjointed health system. Facility and staff resources
are limited, public health and private medical sector plans are poorly coordinated, communications and tracking systems are incompatible and
funding is not sufficient to support development of a sustainable infrastructure for an effective response.
To date, Congress has appropriated nearly $8 billion for disaster preparedness, yet there is little accountability in place to gauge our
level of preparedness or progress. A new, systems-oriented approach is needed to prepare our health and medical system for disasters. Health
providers need to start working together within their organizations, in their communities and across society as a whole in order to be able to
treat victims when a disaster occurs.
This degree of change session will engage a diverse set of health system stakeholders in a substantive conversation around their
interdependencies and the collective actions that they might take on a set of issues.
