The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that public health emergencies have been declared in Alabama and Florida following Hurricane Isaias.
The declaration, approved by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday, along with last week’s presidential emergency declaration for the states, allows HHS to authorize temporary waivers to aid Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program providers.
The waivers allow CHIP, Medicare and Medicaid providers to temporarily suspend federal health care rules to ensure uninterrupted access to care.
“When a storm disrupts someone’s ability to get care, the need is immediate and personal,” Sean Kaufman, HHS principal deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, said. “I want the people affected by Hurricane Isaias to know that we are here to help. Our federal teams worked alongside state and local partners to understand what communities needed and to support the healthcare services they depend on.”
Ahead of Isaias’ landfall, ASPR positioned regional staff in areas at risk from the storm to monitor the hurricane’s effects on public health and health care systems and provide technical assistance in anticipation of state requests. HHS also deployed Healthcare System Assessment Teams to evaluate the storm’s effects on health care facilities.
Additionally, ASPR shared HHS emPOWER datasets with states in the storm’s path. According to HHS, the datasets can help responders identify, by area, how many Medicare beneficiaries rely on electricity-dependent medical equipment or certain essential health care services, including facility-based dialysis and home health care services.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, HHS is giving health care providers in Florida and Alabama the flexibility to keep caring for patients in the wake of Hurricane Isaias,” Kennedy said. “We are helping them maintain essential services, respond quickly as needs change, and keep care available throughout the response and recovery.”
The flexibilities granted by the public health emergency designations are retroactive to October 7 in Alabama and October 6 in Florida.
HHS urged individuals experiencing emotional distress related to Isaias to contact the Disaster Distress Helpline by calling or texting 1-800-985-5990. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration manages the toll-free, multilingual helpline.
Support services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to all residents of the U.S. or its territories who are experiencing emotional distress related to natural or human-caused disasters. Callers may indicate their preferred language to the responding counselor and connect with counselors in more than 100 languages through third-party interpretation services.
