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Incident Management Team

When a disaster or public health emergency requiring federal support occurs, ASPR shifts its focus from preparedness to response operations to provide surge support to local, state, tribal and territorial partners.  

The ASPR Regional Team, led by a Regional Administrator (RA), leads the federal public health and medical Emergency Support Function 8 (ESF-8) response for most incidents and events within its regional boundaries until the incident escalates or is assigned a Federal Health Coordinating Official (FHCO). When emergencies and disasters exceed the public health and medical capabilities of state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) partners, Regional Team personnel fold into the evolving ASPR incident management structure for the incident or event as part of the Incident Management Team (IMT). 

Operating under the direction of the FHCO, the IMT supports field operations with the following actions:  

  • Developing mission objectives  

  • Managing the scope and parameters of the mission  

  • Overseeing resource logistics  

  • Producing situational reports  

  • Serving as a liaison with SLTT partners  

Incident Management Team Composition

The IMT is led by the Federal Health Coordinating Official (FHCO) who serves as the lead representative of the ASPR in the field.

The FHCO oversees:

  • Mission Coordination - the public health and medical assessment and needs validation, prioritization, and mission assignment processes in close collaboration with the FEMA Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO) if appointed, federal ESF leads, and other partners, including federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial public health and medical authorities; and

  • Mission Execution - the establishment and day-to-day operation of the IMT's General and Command Staff and deployed specialized response teams based on the Incident Command System (ICS).

Depending on the situation, the IMT may be comprised of Regional Emergency Coordinators, National Disaster Medical System responders, and U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers who are public health and medical planners and providers. These IMT responders are able to deploy on short notice to support all-hazard incident response and may be activated in support of pre-planned special events.

Collectively, IMT members have expertise in:

  • the core NIMS/ICS-based general staff positions (operations, logistics, plans, and administration and finance) and command positions

  • specialized public health and medical assessment, planning, and resource delivery

  • specific subject areas, including knowledge of state and local medical and public health response plans and capabilities/capability gaps

  • building professional relationships corresponding to the geographic region(s) to which many IMT members are assigned