NATIONAL REPORT ASSESSES STATE PREPAREDNESS LEVEL

Kansas is one of 16 states that received a 5 out of 10 score in the third annual Trust for America's Health (TFAH) Report called "Ready or Not?" which offers a rating for each state based upon a changing list of 10 indicators. This means this year's ranking cannot be compared to the rankings Kansas received in previous years due to differing indicators. The new indicators focus on a variety of areas tied to public health and hospital preparedness levels, including the Strategic National Stockpile, surveillance, hospital, laboratory, and overall preparedness.

"Kansas becomes better prepared every day to deal with public health threats," said Roderick Bremby, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. "We are constantly taking strides to improve our infrastructure, plans, and capacity and we see this as an ongoing priority."

Kansas met the following TFAH indicators (i.e. standards outlined by Trust for America's Health organization):

Indicator 2: State has sufficient Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) laboratories to meet bioterrorism preparedness needs as outlined in the state plan.

Indicator 3: State has enough lab scientists to test for anthrax or plague.

Indicator 5: State has a disease tracking system to collect and monitor data electronically via the Internet.

Indicator 6: Hospitals have a plan or are part of state/local planning effort to care for patients at non-healthcare facilities.

Indicator 9: Hospitals have worked with state or local health department to prioritize hospitals workers' receipt of vaccine or antiviral medications.

TFAH states that the three "Ready or Not? reports conducted since 2002 have shown "significant improvements in the nation's emergency public health preparedness," while noting additional work is needed nationally.

According to the TFAH, Kansas did not meet the following TFAH indicators (criteria):

Indicator 1: Strategic National Stockpile Delivery (a "green" rating meets TFAH criteria): The State of Kansas is currently rated "amber" for Strategic National Stockpile delivery, and has a plan in place to achieve a "green" rating for the SNS by the end of 2006. A comprehensive SNS exercise/drill plan has been developed and is underway, which will culminate with a full-scale exercise in August 2006

Indicator 4: State capabilities to respond to a chemical terrorism threat: Kansas is meeting the national standards for laboratory chemical preparedness by having a qualified level two laboratory as part of the National Laboratory Response Network. Trust For America's Health chose not to recognize level two laboratory capacity and instead recognized only level-one capacity.

Indicator 7: Hospital plans, incentives, or provisions to ensure continuity of care in the event of a major outbreak: This indicator appears to be linked to lessons learned from the Hurricane Katrina response. Continuity of care (hospitals maintaining staff) is not a planning standard required of any state. To date, Kansas has not included this activity in its preparedness planning efforts with hospitals.

Indicator 8: Hospitals infection control professional available within 15 minutes on a 24-hour/7-day basis: Currently, most of these hospitals do not have a full-time infection control professional on staff. The large numbers of small, rural hospitals in the state mitigate against complying with this standard. The State of Kansas has 127 hospitals. Most of these are critical access hospitals in rural areas of the state, with limited staffing resources.

Indicator 10: Hospitals have sufficient medical equipment and supplies for 10 additional patients requiring ventilation: Most hospitals in the state do not provide the number of ventilators envisioned by TFAH. Only hospitals with 100 beds or more are likely to have sufficient medical equipment, supplies, and staff for surge capacity needs for 10 additional patients requiring mechanical ventilation. In Kansas, approximately 100 of our state's 127 hospitals have fewer than 100 beds and have little potential to meet this indicator. Only states that had this capacity in more than 50 percent of their hospitals met this indicator.

"We understand the rural nature of the hospital and local public health system in our state, and are working to apply the national standards in a way that makes sense for Kansas," said Dr. Howard Rodenberg, Director of Health. "We have an active planning process that engages hospitals and local health departments and are confident that we can make the best use of our federal preparedness resources."

"The Kansas Department of Health and Environment continues to consider preparedness planning as one of its top priorities, and has created a new Center for Public Health Preparedness in the Division of Health to provide a more integrated focus to hospital and local health department preparedness activities," said Rodenberg.

"Our staff is committed to ensuring Kansas is prepared for a public health crisis and we will con-tinue to work closely with public health partners across the state to provide assistance with planning, exercises, and infrastructure needs," said Mindee Reece, Director of the KDHE Center for Public Health Preparedness.

Progress toward meeting the federal grant requirements of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Health Resources Services Administration and toward building a stronger, better prepared public health system in Kansas will continue.

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