Healthcare and Public Health Emergency Response Tiers Diagram

Diagram illustrating the six-tier structure of healthcare and public health emergency response coordination in the United States, showing how incident management and support escalate from individual healthcare facilities to the federal government.

At the bottom of the diagram is Tier 1 – Healthcare Asset Management, where a single healthcare organization (HCO A) manages an incident using its Emergency Management Program (EMP) and Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) through an incident command structure.

Above this is Tier 2 – Healthcare Coalition, consisting of multiple healthcare organizations (HCO A, HCO B, and HCO C) and non-healthcare providers connected together. This tier emphasizes information sharing, cooperative planning, and mutual aid among healthcare partners within a community.

Tier 3 – Jurisdiction Incident Management and Medical Support shows healthcare coalitions receiving support from a medical support function that coordinates with two jurisdictions: Jurisdiction I (Public Health/Emergency Management/Public Safety) and Jurisdiction II (Public Health/Emergency Management/Public Safety). This tier represents local emergency operations center (EOC) coordination and medical incident management.

Tier 4 – State Response and Coordination depicts a state-level structure overseeing and coordinating multiple intrastate jurisdictions. A state emergency management and public health authority supports local jurisdictions and facilitates statewide resource management.

Tier 5 – Interstate Regional Coordination shows two neighboring states, State A and State B, connected through regional coordination mechanisms that provide management support and mutual aid across state lines.

At the top is Tier 6 – Federal Response, represented by a federal response entity providing support to states and local jurisdictions during large-scale emergencies or disasters requiring national assistance.

The diagram uses connecting lines to illustrate how support, coordination, and resources flow upward and downward through the tiers, demonstrating an integrated response system that begins with individual healthcare organizations and expands through local, state, regional, and federal levels as incident complexity increases.

A legend at the bottom defines the acronyms:

EMP – Emergency Management Program
EOP – Emergency Operations Plan
PH – Public Health
EM – Emergency Management
HCO – Healthcare Organization