[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 81 (Wednesday, April 29, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Page 19561]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-9719]



[[Page 19561]]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS)


Emergency Care Coordination Center (ECCC)

AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the 
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

ACTION: Notice.

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Executive Summary

    The Emergency Care Coordination Center (ECCC) is a new strategic 
entity that is located within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for 
Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the Department of Health and Human 
Services, in fulfillment of Homeland Security Presidential Directive 
21 and in response to the following 2006 Institute of Medicine 
Reports: Emergency Care for Children, Hospital-Based Emergency Care and 
Emergency Medical Services: At the Crossroads. HHS recognizes that the 
successful delivery of daily emergency care is a necessary foundation 
for our nation's emergency preparedness efforts. Public health and 
medical disaster readiness continue to be priorities for the U.S. 
government (USG). Improving the resiliency, efficiency, effectiveness, 
and capacity of daily hospital emergency medical care delivery will 
strengthen the nation's state of readiness for public health 
emergencies and disasters.
    The primary mission of the ECCC is to support the USG's 
coordination of in-hospital emergency medical care activities and to 
promote programs and resources that improve the delivery of our 
nation's daily emergency medical care and emergency behavioral health 
care. This will be accomplished through various mechanisms, including 
the promotion of both clinical and systems-based emergency medical care 
research, dissemination of lessons learned-including those from the 
care of our men and women wounded in combat-and, finally, the 
development of partnerships throughout the USG and the emergency care 
stakeholder community to promote the translation of validated, 
evidence-based research into daily clinical practice. The ECCC will 
actively reach out to private sector stakeholders and Federal 
collaborators across the USG in order to encourage the coordination of 
emergency medical care efforts throughout existing and future Federal 
initiatives.
    The ECCC, through multi-level Federal collaboration, will create 
the Council on Emergency Medical Care (CEMC), a coalition comprised of 
subject-matter experts with representation from organizations across 
the USG. The CEMC will serve as both a strategic and operational 
element of the ECCC, providing policy level guidance and facilitating 
agency involvement. This entity will contribute to the development and 
advancement of ECCC priorities and will inform the development of joint 
strategies and cohesive policies across the USG to collaborate and 
coordinate ongoing efforts to improve the nation's emergency medical 
care.
    The ECCC will work in coordination with the Federal Interagency 
Committee for Emergency Medical Services (FICEMS). Whereas FICEMS was 
established to ensure coordination among the Federal agencies involved 
with state, local, tribal, or regional emergency medical services and 
9-1-1 systems, and specifically focuses on issues relating to pre-
hospital care, the ECCC is established to address issues relating to 
in-hospital emergency department care. Together, the ECCC and FICEMS 
will contribute to an Emergency Care Enterprise (ECE) that will 
coordinate efforts of the USG throughout the broad spectrum of 
emergency medical care.
    For further information, contact the Emergency Care Coordination 
Center at [email protected], or visit the Web site at: http://www.hhs.gov/aspr/opeo/eccc/

    Dated: April 16, 2009.
W. Craig Vanderwagen,
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, U.S. Department of 
Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. E9-9719 Filed 4-28-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-37-P