```

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 235 (Friday, December 6, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 97014-97015]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-28740]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response

Request for Information on Hospital Preparedness Program Funding 
Formula

AGENCY: Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with section 319C-2 of the Public Health Service 
(PHS) Act, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response 
(ASPR) distributes Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) cooperative 
agreement funding to recipients using a statutorily required formula. 
ASPR is seeking comment on the risk component of the HPP funding 
formula to inform potential future changes to the formula.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by December 20, 2024. 
ASPR will not reply individually to responders but will consider all 
comments submitted by the deadline.

ADDRESSES: Please submit all responses to the following email address: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Hannah, Director, Office of 
Health Care Readiness (OHCR) via [email protected] or call: 202-
245-0722.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: HPP is a cooperative agreement program that, 
through its support for health care coalitions, prepares the nation's 
health care delivery system to save lives during emergencies that 
exceed the day-to-day capacity of health care and emergency response 
systems. HPP is the primary source of federal funding for health care 
preparedness and response. HPP provides funding to 62 recipients, 
including the governments of all 50 states, eight U.S. territories and 
freely associated states, the District of Columbia, Chicago, New York 
City, and Los Angeles County. For the purposes of this Request for 
Information (RFI), ``the health care delivery system'' refers to all 
organizations and persons whose mission is to promote, restore, 
optimize, or maintain health.
    Section 319C-2 of the PHS Act requires ASPR to distribute HPP 
funding based on the following factors: a required base amount 
determined by the HHS Secretary, a required adjustment based on 
population, and an amount based on significant unmet need and degree of 
risk.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN06DE24.005

    The risk component accounts for health care risks and hazards 
capable of creating a surge for the U.S. health care delivery system. 
ASPR calculates the health care surge-specific risk component using 
publicly available national datasets to account for three 
subcomponents:

[[Page 97015]]

    1. Threat, or the likelihood of a particular threat event 
occurring, quantified by the number of events occurring within a 
recipient's jurisdiction (e.g., the ``flood'' threat parameter is 
comprised of the number of flooding events occurring within a 
recipient's jurisdiction).
    2. Vulnerability, or a community's or communities' access to health 
care services and surge capacity (or lack thereof), quantified by 
proportion-based public health metrics (e.g., the ``health care 
access'' vulnerability parameter is comprised of the number of staffed 
hospital beds per capita by recipient).
    3. Consequence, or the potential negative impacts associated with a 
particular threat/hazard occurring, quantified by the historic number 
of casualties per event associated with each threat/hazard (e.g., the 
``flood'' consequence parameter captures the expected number of 
casualties associated with a flooding event).
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN06DE24.006

Information Requested

    Please reference the tables found at https://aspr.hhs.gov/HealthCareReadiness/HPP/Pages/rfi.aspx to answer the following 
questions.
    (1) What, if any, feedback do you have regarding the current 
datasets? For example, are there any current datasets you recommend 
retiring? Please specify why and if you would recommend any 
replacements.
    (2) What, if any, additional datasets would you recommend including 
in the risk calculation? Please specify the data source and associated 
risk subcomponent (i.e., threat, vulnerability, consequence). You may 
recommend adding one of the ``potential datasets'' included in the 
tables found at https://aspr.hhs.gov/HealthCareReadiness/HPP/Pages/rfi.aspx and/or suggest new datasets for consideration.
    (3) What, if any, additional considerations would you recommend 
including in the calculation of risk (e.g., threats that are not 
included in the current datasets)? Please also include datasets that 
can be used to measure these factors.
    You may address as many or as few questions as you choose. You may 
provide additional feedback relevant to the HPP funding formula. When 
responding, please identify the corresponding question. Datasets used 
for the risk calculation must be national in scope and either publicly 
available or readily available to the federal government.
    This RFI is for planning purposes only and should not be construed 
as a policy, solicitation for applications, or as an obligation on the 
part of the government to provide support for any ideas in response to 
it. ASPR will use the information submitted in response to this RFI at 
its discretion and will not provide comments to any of your 
submissions. The government is under no obligation to acknowledge 
receipt of the information received or provide feedback with respect to 
any information submitted. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or 
sensitive information should be included in a response. The contents of 
all submissions may be made available to the public in the future. 
Submitted materials should therefore be publicly available or be able 
to be made public.
    The Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and 
Response of ASPR, Dawn O'Connell, having reviewed and approved this 
document, authorizes Adam DeVore, who is the Federal Register liaison, 
to electronically sign this document for purposes of publication in the 
Federal Register.

Adam DeVore,
Federal Register Liaison, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and 
Response.
[FR Doc. 2024-28740 Filed 12-5-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-37-P
```