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National Working Group on Information Sharing Advances

As Powered for Patients digs deeper into the role of remote monitoring and automated reporting technology in increasing situational awareness of at-risk emergency power systems during disasters, the need for a consensus protocol for leveraging this technology becomes even more evident.

Developing such a protocol is a key outcome of the National Working Group on Information Sharing, a new Powered for Patients initiative for which planning continues.  As this planning advances, Powered for Patients Project Director Eric Cote has received lots of input on this issue from hospital facility managers, remote monitoring technology providers and government officials.

While government officials are eager to tap the capability of remote monitoring and automated reporting technology to rapidly get status reports about hospital emergency power systems during disasters, a key challenge will be finding a way to vet information before it is passed up the chain of command. Many of the automatic notifications generated by remote monitoring technologies relate to mechanical threats that can often be resolved without problem. Yet, this technology also can automatically detect and rapidly alert facilities personnel to catastrophic mechanical failures that can signal an imminent loss of emergency power. The Powered for Patients initiative will work with key stakeholders to help develop protocols around rapidly sharing more urgent mechanical threat notifications up the chain of command.

The sooner government officials know of a mechanical threat that has the potential to disable an emergency power system, the faster government resources can be deployed to avert a failure. Similarly, accelerated notice to utilities of a potential failure of a hospital’s emergency power system during a disaster can enable reprioritization of restoration efforts.  Stakeholders interested in taking part in the National Working Group on Information Sharing are encouraged to contact Project Director Eric Cote at cote@poweredforpatients.org.

New State Stakeholder Engagement Initiatives Being Planned in Other States

Given the important lessons learned about the vulnerabilities of emergency power supply systems during Hurricanes Hermine and Matthew, Powered for Patients is working with officials in Southeastern states to launch initiatives to chronicle lessons learned. These initiatives will also focus on identifying opportunities to enhance stakeholder coordination and information sharing in states as it relates to safeguarding emergency power and expediting power restoration.

Public and private sector stakeholders interested in participating in state initiatives are encouraged to contact Powered for Patients Project Director Eric Cote at cote@poweredforpatients.org.

 

Powered for Patients Takes Part in Resiliency 2.0 Summit at Partners Healthcare

 

On January 11, 2017, national and regional leaders on climate change gathered for a daylong conference to catalyze climate action plans for metro Boston health care service providers and allied stakeholders.

The Barr Foundation, Partners HealthCare, and Health Care Without Harm co-sponsored the invitation-only Summit on climate resilience. The goal of the Summit was to raise awareness of what is needed to create a robust network of health care provision as an essential component of resilient cities. Findings will be presented in a report and this meeting will create a template for similar summits in other major cities.

Powered for Patients Project Director Eric Cote was invited to participate in the event and he contributed subject matter expertise around the challenges facing hospitals in maintaining emergency power during extended power outages triggered by natural disasters.

Powered for Patients to Provide Learning Session at 2017 Preparedness Summit

 

A proposed Powered for Patients presentation on emergency power for critical healthcare facilities has been accepted by the organizers of the 2017 Preparedness Summit, the nation’s pre-eminent annual gathering of federal, state and local public health preparedness leaders. The Powered for Patients presentation was accepted as a combined Learning Session and will complement a presentation on power outage planning for vulnerable populations.

Powered for Patients Project Director Eric Cote will deliver the presentation, entitled “Empowering Public Health Preparedness Leaders to Better Protect Patient Health When Emergency Power Systems for Critical Healthcare Facilities are Threatened or Fail”.

This will complement a presentation entitled, “BREATHE Easier In Power Outage Emergencies: A Power-Packed Campaign and Planning Toolkit” developed to reflect lessons learned from the May 2009 super derecho by the Franklin-Williamson Bi-County Health Department in Illinois. The 2017 Preparedness Summit will take place in Atlanta, Georgia from April 25 – 28th.

Powered for Patients Celebrates 1st Power Generation Industry Corporate Sponsor

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Powered for Patients is pleased to announce of our first corporate sponsor, Power Pro-Tech Services (PPT) headquartered in Altamonte Springs, FL. The company is an industry leader specializing in the service and installation of distributed power systems. www.powerprotech.com

“We are proud and delighted to become an official sponsor of Powered for Patients, which we see as a terrific example of a public/private partnership that is addressing issues critical to public health and safety,” said Bob Byrne, President and CEO of Power Pro-Tech Services. “Our participation in the initiative will increase our company’s value to hospitals and other healthcare clients.”

Byrne said he looks forward to his company’s participation in Powered for Patients State Stakeholder Engagement Initiatives being planned in several states, as well as having his company’s expert on codes and standards serve on the Powered for Patients Code & Standards Workgroup. Byrne added that his company’s participation in the Codes & Standards Workgroup will enable him to work closely with the American Society of Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) to bring his hospital clients to the table to help collectively address concerns over proposed federal rules that will require more frequent testing of hospital generators. ASHE is an active supporter of Powered for Patients and is expected to help lead the Codes & Standards Workgroup.

Powered for Patients Promotes Mission at 2015 Preparedness Summit

Powered for Patients Project Director Eric Cote took part in a presentation at the recent 2015 Preparedness Summit in Atlanta, GA that addressed the consequences of power failures for hospitals. Cote provided an overview of the work of Powered for Patients in safeguarding backup power and expediting power restoration for hospitals and other critical healthcare facilities. Cote’s presentation was one of two during the 90-minute session that included a presentation from West Virginia University Law Professor James Van Nostrand on Combined Heat Power systems as an alternative to backup generators.

While at the Preparedness Summit, Cote also had the opportunity to meet with senior public health preparedness officials from a number of states to discuss launching State Stakeholder Engagement Initiatives.

Closer Ties Between Hospitals and Utilities Forged at Edison Electric Institute Conference

To help Powered for Patients facilitate enhanced dialogue between hospitals and utilities, Jonathan Flannery, the Senior Associate Director of Advocacy for the American Society of Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), led an ASHE delegation on behalf of Powered for Patients to the Edison Electric Institute’s Key Account Manager conference in New Orleans earlier this year. Jonathan was a presenter at our initial stakeholder meeting in 2014 and has been a steadfast supporter since.

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) is a national trade association that represents the nation’s investor-owned utilities which comprise 70 percent of the electric utility sector. EEI invited Powered for Patients and ASHE to attend its upcoming National Key Accounts Workshop to help begin the process of building closer connections between utilities and hospital facility managers.
Flannery provided a briefing about Powered for Patients to a group of utility executives that was very well received. Several utilities in attendance asked for immediate follow up discussions to explore working with Powered for Patients. In addition, Flannery and nearly a dozen hospital facility managers from Louisiana sat down for a face-to-face discussion with the utilities serving these hospitals. This was an excellent continuation of the work Powered for Patients has initiated in bolstering dialogue between hospital facility managers and their utilities. We are grateful to Jonathan Flannery for representing Powered for Patients at the meeting and we express our gratitude to EEI for providing the opportunity.

Powered for Patients Takes Part in Experts’ Roundtable on Widespread Grid Outage

Powered for Patients was the only healthcare-focused organization that took part in a high-level Roundtable in Washington, D.C. with federal officials, cyber security experts and utility industry representatives to address the implications of a long-term power outage on critical healthcare facilities.

The Experts’ Roundtable on Preparing for a Potential Prolonged and Widespread Outage of the Electric Power Grid was an off-the-record discussion among state, federal, and private sector interests to help frame the topic of widespread or prolonged power outages for elected leaders; gather input on how elected officials are currently addressing this topic and could improve their preparation and planning; and discuss how to share best or promising practices.

Powered for Patients Releases Report on Initial Stakeholders Meeting

A select group of key stakeholders gathered in Washington, D.C. on August 19, 2014 for a day-long meeting to discuss how to better ensure backup power and utility power for critical healthcare facilities impacted by disaster.

The official report of that meeting was released in late October 2014. Those participating in the meeting included federal, state and local public health officials and emergency managers, and representatives from the power generation industry, the utility sector and the healthcare industry.

The Powered for Patients Initial Stakeholder Meeting was co-sponsored by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), and the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA). All three organizations are working closely to advance Powered for Patients in collaboration with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Stakeholder Meeting addressed critical lessons from Hurricane Sandy and other disasters that continue to shape policy discussions and programming at ASTHO, NACCHO, NEMA and other leading public health and emergency management organizations. Among the key lessons learned was the need to protect backup power for critical healthcare facilities to avoid emergency evacuations. The need to enhance power restoration prioritization for critical healthcare facilities also became evident.

Key topics discussed at the August 19th meeting included:

  • Lessons learned about backup power from Hurricane Sandy and previous disasters, and progress made (or not) in heeding lessons learned.
  • Overview of the current approach to power restoration decision-making and opportunities to accelerate restoration for critical healthcare facilities.
  • The state of the generator fleet and opportunities to enhance reliability and performance of backup power systems for critical healthcare facilities.
  • Opportunities to enhance situational awareness of generator status for disaster-impacted healthcare facilities through the use of remotely monitored generator data or other means.
  • The technical and operational challenges faced by the generator industry, healthcare facilities and utilities during disasters and opportunities for government to assist in addressing these challenges.

“We were very pleased to help convene this important meeting of the key stakeholders involved in ensuring backup power and restoring utility power for critical healthcare facilities,” said Gerrit Bakker, Senior Director, Public Health Preparedness for ASTHO. “This meeting has given us a clearer sense of the challenges faced by key stakeholders and the opportunities to overcome these challenges through coordination.”

Participation in the initial stakeholder meeting was limited to a small working group to enable a productive initial discussion among key stakeholders. However, broad involvement from stakeholder communities is encouraged.  For a full copy of the Stakeholder Meeting Report, or for more information about working with Powered for Patients, contact Project Director Eric Cote, at cote@disastersafetystrategies.com.