HHS announces states' shares of bioterrorism preparedness funds

Feb 1, 2002 (CIDRAP News) Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson yesterday detailed each state's share of more than $1 billion in bioterrorism preparedness funding and said states can start spending the first 20% of their shares immediately.

States will get allocations ranging from $6.5 million for Wyoming to $69.7 million for California, according to the HHS announcement. Separate allocations are listed for Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Chicago, and New York City. The money comes from a $2.9 billion bioterrorism appropriations bill that was signed by President Bush Jan 10.

HHS said the funds are to be used for five purposes: to develop state preparedness plans, improve infectious disease surveillance, enhance hospital systems' preparedness for mass casualties, expand public health laboratory and communications capacities, and improve disease-reporting communication among hospitals and local and state health departments.

"We're putting money in the hands of states and local communities so they can start building strong public health systems for responding to a bioterrorism attack," Thompson said. "These funds are just the start of our efforts to help states and communities build up their core public health capabilities."

To speed preparedness efforts, states can begin spending up to 20% of their allotments immediately, Thompson's announcement said. The rest of the money will be released after states submit their preparedness plans, which are due by Apr 15. An HHS announcement last week listed the deadline as May 15; yesterday's announcement did not explain the change. The state plans are supposed to describe how states will repond to bioterrorism events and other infectious disease outbreaks and how they will strengthen their "core public health capacities in all relevant areas," HHS officials said.

The funds are divided into three packages, each from a different HHS agency, officials said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is administering funds to support statewide bioterrorism, infectious disease, and public health emergency preparedness. Each state will get a $5 million base award, with an additional amount based on the state's population.

The Health Resources and Services Administration will handle a second block of funds, to be used by states to create regional hospital plans for responding to bioterrorism events. The money will be allocated under a formula like that used by the CDC.

A third package of funds will be administered by the Office of Emergency Preparedness to support the Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS), HHS reported. The money will increase the number of cities receiving MMRS funds by 25, so that 80% of the US population will be covered by MMRS plans. MMRS contracts are intended to improve local governments' ability to deal with any event causing mass casualties, including chemical and biological attacks.

The HHS announcement included a list of 16 "critical benchmarks" for states to consider in writing their preparedness plans. For example, states are advised to designate a senior public health official to direct preparedness efforts, set up an advisory committee with representatives from specified groups, prepare time lines for statewide and regional planning, set up a hospital planning committee, assess statutes and regulations dealing with emergency public health measures, and provide for at least one epidemiologist for each metropolitan area of more than 500,000 people.