By Sarah Green
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Dec. 12
A new
report
ranks Kansas as the second-most prepared state in the nation in its ability to respond to public health emergencies.
But the report is more than a ranking. It also is a critique of the way preparedness is measured across the country. The
Trust for America”s Health
, a national non-profit organization that studies states” response capabilities and health readiness, notes that there are no national standards for determining state preparedness. The report”s top recommendation is that policymakers fix that problem.
“(The Department of Health and Human Services) and its agencies should give the highest priority to defining measurable, “optimally achievable” basic preparedness standards,” the report concluded “These need to be baseline requirements that all states should be held accountable for reaching. The measures should include objective assessments and be able to gauge improvements on an ongoing basis.”
That would provide U.S. residents unprecedented transparency for seeing how well their states are preparing for public health hazards, including but not limited to terrorism.
Though more than $4 billion has been allocated by Congress over the last four years for emergency preparedness, “the government health agencies have yet to release state-by-state information to Americans or policymakers about how prepared their communities are to respond to health issues,” the report noted.
In Fiscal Year 2006 alone, Kansas received $13.2 million from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for preparedness programs.
Improving reporting standards wouldn”t necessarily change Kansas” efforts to prepare for emergencies, said Joe Blubaugh, director of communications for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment
“In the case of natural or man-made disasters, we don”t know what”s coming and we don”t know what the indicators will be from year to year, either,” he said. “You can”t prepare for just one, you have to prepare for all of them. It”s nice to score well, but we can”t assume we”re done.”
Kansas met nine of 10 criteria used by Trust for American”s Health. Only Oklahoma scored higher, meeting all 10 of the organization”s criteria. Previously, Kansas met five of 10 indicators in 2005; seven of 10 in 2004 and three of 10 in 2003.
The one deficient area in the latest report was a close call, Blubaugh said. Kansas received an “amber-plus” score for its ability to deliver medicine from a national stockpile of emergency medications. “Amber” is the next step down from a passing “green” grade.
“Our last assessment was in spring 2006,” Blubaugh said. “We were upgraded from an amber-minus the previous year to an amber-plus. I think when they score us again, we should be at least a green-minus.”
A full-scale emergency antibiotic tracking exercise in August tested local and state capacities to use the Strategic National Stockpile, a cache of medicine and supplies the CDC can deploy within 12 hours of a disaster. Blubaugh said the exercise should improve the state”s score.
Criteria met by the state:
* Sufficient Biosafety Level 3 laboratories to meet bioterrorism preparedness needs. Kansas has two Level 3 laboratories: one at KDHE, and one at Kansas State University in Manhattan;
* Enough lab scientists to test for anthrax or plague;
*
A year-round, lab-based influenza surveillance;
* Two weeks of hospital bed surge capacity available during a moderate pandemic. The TFAH considers a moderate pandemic as one that is not as bad as the catastrophic 1918 pandemic, but more serious than the 1968 Hong Kong Flu pandemic, which is considered one of the world”s mildest;
*
Kansas increased or maintained its seasonal flu vaccination rate for adults age 65 or older;
*
Kansas is at or above the national median for the number of adults age 65 or older who have ever received a pneumonia vaccination;
*
An electronic disease tracking system compatible with the CDC National Electronic Disease Surveillance System;
*
Does not have a nursing workforce shortage; and
*
Increased or maintained level of funding for public health services from FY 2005 to FY 2006.
Sarah Green is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. She can be reached at
sgreen@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 118.