Hospitals should consider MOUs with organizations that can
provide them resources and services during emergencies and
disasters. MOUs are established between hospitals,
other healthcare providers and/or emergency response agencies to
identify their agreements to collaborate, communicate, respond
and support one another during a disaster or other public health
emergency. Understandings regarding the incident command
structure, patient and resource management, processes and
policies in place for requesting and sharing of staff, equipment
and consumable resources, as well as payment, are generally
addressed in a local mutual aid MOU.
MOUs help hospitals demonstrate and document compliance
with Joint Commission, State and Federal expectations for
collaborative planning and disaster response. MOUs are also
a documentation asset when seeking federal reimbursement
through FEMA after a disaster.
MOUs are also used by hospitals to document agreements with other
organizations and agencies to provide transportation, consumables
(e.g., water, food), equipment, personnel and many other
resources and services that may be needed during a disaster
event. These MOUs help to document a hospital’s ability to
respond and to sustain operations.
Examples include MOUs with:
Local hospitals for patient transfer, supplies, equipment,
pharmaceuticals and personnel.
Local nurse registry agencies, temporary agencies, and
security personnel providers
Other local healthcare providers including clinics and long
term care facilities for personnel, supplies, equipment and
transportation
Vendors and suppliers for healthcare and non-health care
resources including linen and fuel
County government for services including transportation and
security; for supplies; and for assistance in managing the
treatment and transportation of staff and patients.
Third party payors to suspend lag time for payments
The mutual aid support concept is well established and is
considered “standard of care” in most emergency response
disciplines. The purpose of this mutual aid support agreement is
to aid hospitals in their emergency management by authorizing the
Hospital Mutual Aid System (HMAS). H-MAS addresses the loan of
medical personnel, pharmaceuticals, supplies, and equipment, or
assistance with emergent hospital evacuation, including accepting
transferred
patients.
The Mutual Aid Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is a
voluntary agreement among the hospital members, (name of hospital
association or council) or (list hospitals party to MOU), for the
purpose of providing mutual aid at the time of a medical
disaster. For purposes of this MOU, a disaster is defined as an
overwhelming incident that exceeds the effective response
capability of the impacted health care facility or facilities. An
incident of this magnitude will almost always involve (name of
local) emergency management agency and (name of local) public
health department. The disaster may be an “external” or
“internal” event for hospitals and assumes that each affected
hospital’s emergency management plans have been fully
implemented.
This document addresses the relationships between and among
hospitals and is intended to augment, not replace, each
facility’s disaster plan. The MOU also provides the framework for
hospitals to coordinate as a single H-MAS community in actions
with (name of local) management agency, (name of local) public
health department, and emergency medical services during planning
and response. This document does not replace but rather
supplements the rules and procedures governing interaction with
other organizations during a disaster (e.g., law enforcement
agencies, the local emergency medical services, local public
health department, fire departments, American Red Cross, etc).
