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News flash: States creating databases of medical disaster volunteers

Credentialing & Verification Update, July 22, 2008

Fifteen of twenty states recently surveyed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) have begun electronic registries of medical disaster volunteers with verified credentials, according to the organization's June 2008 report.

Under federal law, states must participate in a national registry of pre-credentialed medical professionals by 2009 to continue receiving funds under the Health and Human Services Department's Hospital Preparedness Program.

Historically, in the event of a disaster, hospitals have had few resources to distinguish qualified from unqualified medical volunteers, who often begin treating disaster victims within minutes or hours of the event. The registry program mandates states to pre-register volunteers, group them according to medical credentials, and provide evidence of completed verifications of their credentials.

The GAO report indicated that the majority of the states had not verified credentials yet.

To learn more, read the GAO report or visit the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Web site on the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP).

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