[Federal Register: April 29, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 81)]
[Notices]
[Page 19561]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29ap09-80]
[[Page 19561]]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS)
Emergency Care Coordination Center (ECCC)
AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
ACTION: Notice.
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Executive Summary
The Emergency Care Coordination Center (ECCC) is a new strategic
entity that is located within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for
Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the Department of Health and Human
Services, in fulfillment of Homeland Security Presidential Directive
21 and in response to the following 2006 Institute of Medicine
Reports: Emergency Care for Children, Hospital-Based Emergency Care and
Emergency Medical Services: At the Crossroads. HHS recognizes that the
successful delivery of daily emergency care is a necessary foundation
for our nation's emergency preparedness efforts. Public health and
medical disaster readiness continue to be priorities for the U.S.
government (USG). Improving the resiliency, efficiency, effectiveness,
and capacity of daily hospital emergency medical care delivery will
strengthen the nation's state of readiness for public health
emergencies and disasters.
The primary mission of the ECCC is to support the USG's
coordination of in-hospital emergency medical care activities and to
promote programs and resources that improve the delivery of our
nation's daily emergency medical care and emergency behavioral health
care. This will be accomplished through various mechanisms, including
the promotion of both clinical and systems-based emergency medical care
research, dissemination of lessons learned-including those from the
care of our men and women wounded in combat-and, finally, the
development of partnerships throughout the USG and the emergency care
stakeholder community to promote the translation of validated,
evidence-based research into daily clinical practice. The ECCC will
actively reach out to private sector stakeholders and Federal
collaborators across the USG in order to encourage the coordination of
emergency medical care efforts throughout existing and future Federal
initiatives.
The ECCC, through multi-level Federal collaboration, will create
the Council on Emergency Medical Care (CEMC), a coalition comprised of
subject-matter experts with representation from organizations across
the USG. The CEMC will serve as both a strategic and operational
element of the ECCC, providing policy level guidance and facilitating
agency involvement. This entity will contribute to the development and
advancement of ECCC priorities and will inform the development of joint
strategies and cohesive policies across the USG to collaborate and
coordinate ongoing efforts to improve the nation's emergency medical
care.
The ECCC will work in coordination with the Federal Interagency
Committee for Emergency Medical Services (FICEMS). Whereas FICEMS was
established to ensure coordination among the Federal agencies involved
with state, local, tribal, or regional emergency medical services and
9-1-1 systems, and specifically focuses on issues relating to pre-
hospital care, the ECCC is established to address issues relating to
in-hospital emergency department care. Together, the ECCC and FICEMS
will contribute to an Emergency Care Enterprise (ECE) that will
coordinate efforts of the USG throughout the broad spectrum of
emergency medical care.
For further information, contact the Emergency Care Coordination
Center at ECCC@hhs.gov, or visit the Web site at: http://www.hhs.gov/
aspr/opeo/eccc/
Dated: April 16, 2009.
W. Craig Vanderwagen,
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. E9-9719 Filed 4-28-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-37-P