A Presidential Directive established the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as the “common language” for coordinated multi-agency responses for all Federal, state and local responders, including healthcare.  Hospitals are required by The Joint Commission (TJC) to implement 17 specific NIMS activities ranging from formal adoption to updated EOPs to mutual aid agreements, training and multi-agency exercises.  Coordination, planning and communication are key elements.

TJC specifies certain FEMA courses (IS-700, IS-800, ICS 100 and ICS 200), with the intended role of the responder dictating the type and depth of training required.  Trainers should have demonstrated experience as an Incident Commander in a NIMS environment.  HICS (Healthcare Incident Command System) training alone does NOT meet the NIMS requirements, but can supplement the program.  HICS incorporates standard Incident Command System (ICS) principles, but with modifications for healthcare.  IESO recommends “NIMS for Executives” for healthcare executives who need a working awareness of NIMS and their correct role in an event as facilitators.

Read more about TJC requirements for NIMS in healthcare in our information brochure.

Dr. Scott Harris, PhD, MPH is the Global Risk Manager for IESO, LLC.  His experience covers over 28 years of Environmental, Health and Safety Management in Federal and State government, consulting, general industry and University instruction.  Before joining IESO Scott was a Federal On-Scene Coordinator and NIMS Instructor for EPA Region 6, a member of their Emergency Readiness Team and the Regional Coordinator of the BioWatch Program, a national sentry program for early detection of biological WMD events.  He held DOD “Top Secret” and DOE “Q” security clearances, served on national workgroups developing BMPs and Agency capabilities for bio-surveillance, first response, hotzone sampling and decontamination, and authored Response, Decontamination and Consequence Management Plans for numerous major cities and international airports.  Scott received his PhD in Environmental Science, with a specialization in Disaster and Emergency Management, from Oklahoma State University, and holds degrees in Geology (B.S.) and Public Health (MPH) from Western Kentucky University.

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