Hospitals and laboratories get $1.36 from feds.

• Author: Pappalardo, Joe
• Position: SECURITY BEAT: Homeland Defense Briefs

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt recently announced a second influx of $1.3 billion to help state and local hospitals respond to mass casualty terrorism and other medical crises.

"Our ability to respond effectively to public health emergencies is an important part of securing our homeland," Leavitt said.

Last year, HHS provided an equal amount to the states, territories and four major metropolitan areas to bolster preparedness. The second allotment will be spread to even more cities to upgrade their infectious disease surveillance, enhance the readiness of hospitals to deal with large numbers of casualties, expand public health laboratory capabilities and improve disease reporting between hospitals and local health departments. The HHS' Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and Health Resources and Services Administration will be distributing the money.

HHS also is providing $471 million for states specifically to develop surge capacity to deal with mass casualty events. This includes the expansion of hospital beds, development of isolation capacity, hiring health care personnel, establishing hospital-based pharmaceutical caches and...