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Coordinated resources may be best the fight against bioterrorism

Emergency Management Alert, May 14, 2004

Coordinating state and local resources may benefit bioterrorism preparedness and response capabilities, according to a report released last week by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

The report called the "Regionalization of Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response" identifies three ways regionalization can make a difference in communities' responses, including:

• Help communities handle surge capacity
• Use scarce resources with other communities to develop teams of trained response personnel and maintain response equipment supplies
• Develop pre-existing agreements and written plans that specify roles, payment, and chain of command to coordinate numerous response organizations involved
  

"These findings confirm the importance of working together under extreme circumstances," said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, MD. "I'm pleased to report that AHRQ, along with its federal partners, has studies underway looking at regional approaches to many of the areas identified by this new report."

To read a summary of the report, visit, http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/bioregsum.htm

For the full report, go to www.ahrq.gov/clinic/evrptfiles.htm#bioreg
Printed copies of the summary and full report are available by calling AHRQ's publications clearinghouse at 1-800-358-9295 or by sending an e-mail to ahrqpubs@ahrq.gov

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