The goal is to have seven healthcare coalition regions established in Wisconsin by July 1, 2015.  The regions are determined by the Department of Health, and mirror the previous WHEPP regions, which had been established by patient referral patterns.

 

Wisconsin identified some gaps in widespread healthcare coordination, to include: coordinated plans for large scale disasters, lack of a formal regional medical coordination structure, established indicators for crisis standards when systems are overwhelmed, evacuation plans, and patient tracking capability.

 

Healthcare coalitions don’t replace day-to-day functions of individual responder agencies or organizations.  Wisconsin is following a federal model that grew out of recent event experiences with the Joplin tornado and Hurricane Sandy.  The goal is to coordinate how public health, healthcare institutions, and first responder agencies will manage their efforts to enact a uniform and unified response to an emergency, specifically the medical surge aspect of an event.

 

Get the latest information on Wisconsin’s Healthcare Coalition efforts in this webcast from co-medical advisor Dr. Michael Clark. Click here to listen  now!