Norton Calls on Congress to Support Full Funding for ER One (5/7/08)

Washington, DC - On the second day of hearings on surge care in hospitals here, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) questioned Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff about the Oversight and Government Reform's report, "Hospital Emergency Surge Capacity: Not Ready for the "Predictable Surprise," that cited D.C. hospitals for having no available beds. The Report found that all three trauma centers in the nation's capital were well above capacity, with an average of only six intensive care beds. The hearings were prompted by severe cuts in Medicaid proposed in the President's budget that, according to the Report, will cut deeply into core service delivery in the nation's already struggling hospitals.

Norton asked Secretary Leavitt whether he could assure the Committee that, even considering Medicaid cuts, hospitals in the nation's capital are prepared for a mass casualty event. When Leavitt said he would need to ask an HHS official who was not in the room, Norton told him she was astonished that the Secretary was not able to say that the nation's capital could handle mass casualties six years after 9/11.

At the first hearing on hospital capacity this week on Monday, Norton alerted her colleagues to the need for full funding of a ER One, an all-risks-ready hospital facility designed to be capable of meeting the needs of residents, federal workers, visitors and government officials at the Washington Hospital Center in the event of a mass terrorist event or a natural disaster. For a half dozen years, Norton has been working with the administration and House and Senate appropriators on ER One to achieve at least one hospital equipped with surge capacity here.

ER One, designed to increase surge capacity by a factor of 10 while protecting against potential airborne contaminants from a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack, would be placed by the Washington Hospital Center to build on that hospital's experiences handling Pentagon 9/11 victims, particularly at its burn unit. National hospital leaders have attended public forums here to consult with officials on ER One so that it would serve as a national model that can be replicated in the states. Former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson and the administration have actively supported the public-private Washington hospital project, which has barely missed being funded several times. However, Secretary Leavitt said he had heard of ER One but knew nothing more of it. Norton said 2008 is very late to be discussing hospital surge capacity in the nation's capital and much too late not to have some answers.

What is ER One?

A section of the hospital robust with specialized all-risks capability to serve the region and manage mass casualty incident.

How would ER One operate?

Accommodate up to 2,500 patients per day (scaling up from 250/day during routine operations);

Accommodate up to 100 critical care patients per day (20/day routinely);

Have all rooms equipped with negative pressure isolation with 100 percent

non-recirculated air;

Offer decontamination capabilities in many forms throughout the facility;

Provide stringent screening controls to protect hospital workers and patients;

Deploy a universal patient tracking and ubiquitous information system;

Offer comprehensive internal and external communications systems.