Model Hospital Mutual Aid MOU
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).