When disaster strikes, our nation depends on both public and private healthcare providers to be ready to help those in need on their worst days. Healthcare workers exhibit an unwavering commitment to saving lives during a crisis. Yet, what happens when healthcare providers themselves become victims? Severe weather events can devastate not only communities but also the hospitals and public health infrastructure serving them.
On September 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc across the southeastern United States, with Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Western North Carolina enduring particularly severe impacts. Among the critical infrastructure damaged was Baxter Healthcare’s plant in Marion, North Carolina, which produces 60 percent of the nation’s intravenous (IV) therapy solutions. The hurricane destroyed the municipal water supply to the plant, forcing it offline for weeks. The consequences were profound: hundreds of thousands of medical procedures reliant on IV solutions were delayed, healthcare providers scrambled to implement alternative treatment models, and the Biden Administration invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA) to address the crisis.
This is not the first time the DPA has been leveraged to safeguard our healthcare system. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the DPA played a pivotal role in securing the production of personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, and critical medical supplies, underscoring its importance in addressing shortfalls during emergencies. However, the challenges posed by Hurricane Helene and other disasters reveal gaps in our healthcare resilience that require urgent action.
The increasing frequency and severity of disasters underscore the urgent need to fortify our nation’s healthcare capabilities. As new leadership prepares to take office under the next Administration, decisive action is required to address persistent vulnerabilities in our public health infrastructure. Strengthening the foundation of our healthcare system requires a multifaceted, strategic approach.
Strengthening Public-Private Partnerships
In the face of disaster, individuals rarely remember the performance of a single hospital or health department. Instead, they recall how effectively their community came together to care for those in need. Public health is a complex network of government-run agencies and private healthcare providers, and both play crucial roles in disaster response and recovery.
A striking example of successful public-private collaboration was Operation Warp Speed during COVID-19, where private pharmaceutical companies partnered with the federal government to develop and distribute vaccines at unprecedented speed. This effort saved lives and underscored the life-saving potential of robust public-private partnerships. To enhance healthcare resilience, we must expand and strengthen these alliances, foster trust, collaboration, and shared responsibility for addressing future crises.
Enhancing Supply Chain Resilience
Decades of declining healthcare reimbursements and rising costs have led many providers to adopt “just-in-time” inventory models to minimize expenses. While efficient under normal circumstances, this approach leaves supply chains vulnerable during emergencies when patient volumes surge, or suppliers are disrupted.
The early COVID-19 pandemic starkly revealed the risks of this model. Reliance on limited personal protective equipment (PPE) stockpiles and single-source suppliers—many located abroad—created bottlenecks as global demand soared. This left US healthcare workers reusing PPE or resorting to inadequate substitutes, placing both patients and staff at greater risk.
Moving forward, healthcare supply chains must prioritize resilience over efficiency by diversifying suppliers, building strategic stockpiles, and investing in domestic manufacturing capabilities. These steps will ensure essential resources are readily available during emergencies, reducing dependency on vulnerable supply chains.
Investing in Climate-Resilient Infrastructure
Extreme weather events pose a growing threat to our healthcare facilities. From Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of Gulf Coast hospitals in 2005 to Hurricane Helene’s recent destruction of water supplies critical to healthcare operations in 2024, the vulnerabilities of medical infrastructure are clear.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) have allocated over $1.9 trillion for climate-resilient projects. This funding represents a historic opportunity to modernize healthcare facilities, ensuring they can withstand the impacts of future disasters. By incentivizing proactive investments in resilience, we can protect critical healthcare operations and ensure continuity of care during crises.
Developing Robust Preparedness Plans and Training
Preparedness is the cornerstone of resilience. Healthcare organizations must move beyond standard protocols to conduct rigorous training and drills that simulate a wide range of disaster scenarios. Real-world examples, such as the Enloe Medical Center’s wildfire preparedness during California’s 2018 Camp Fire, highlight how prior training can save lives when disaster strikes.
These exercises should inform and refine Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) and Continuity of Operations Plans (COOPs), ensuring organizations are ready to respond effectively to unforeseen challenges. Regularly updating these plans based on lessons learned will strengthen preparedness and foster adaptability in crises.
Bolstering Federal Response Capabilities
At the federal level, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plays a critical role in supporting communities during public health emergencies. The National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) and volunteer networks under Office of the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response (ASPR) provide invaluable surge capacity, deploying thousands of healthcare providers to disaster-affected areas.
However, the increasing frequency and complexity of disasters demand expanded resources and capabilities to ensure HHS can continue to meet these growing challenges. This includes enhanced funding for public health programs, reducing the “boom and bust” cycles that leave communities underprepared.
Rising to the Challenge
As disasters grow in frequency and intensity, the resilience of our healthcare system must become a national imperative. Events like Hurricane Helene expose critical vulnerabilities in our healthcare infrastructure, from fragile supply chains to chronically underfunded preparedness programs. Addressing these weaknesses demands bold and sustained investment in public health funding to break free from the detrimental “boom and bust” cycles that repeatedly leave communities unprepared.
Building a healthcare system that can withstand future crises requires urgent action and the stakes could not be higher. Lives, livelihoods, and community stability depend on the ability of our healthcare system to rise to the challenge of an uncertain future. With decisive, forward-looking action, we can transform vulnerabilities into strengths, building a healthcare system capable of enduring—and excelling—no matter what disasters lie ahead.