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Business continuity professionals are called upon to be as versatile as they are prepared to handle any and all potential disruptions. Versatility is augmented by experience. In the session, an MBCP and veteran of three industries shares lessons learned and best practices for logistics, healthcare, and IT. Discussion will include privacy, supply chain, SLAs, and more. Attend this presentation to ensure that your program will meet both requirements and expectations.

Attend this session to learn the essential elements necessary to manage an exercise on a large scale. The presentation walks through the process used by Texas Children’s to manage multiple large-scale exercises involving multiple external agencies and hundreds of participants. While the presentation is from a healthcare organization, the lessons are applicable to all. Topics covered include working with external partners (such as law enforcement and EMS0, internal and external communications, and developing after-action reports and corrective actions.

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston was recently invited to meet with the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Health Affairs to present on UTMB’s 3-year effort to develop a national model for response to major chemical incidents such as releases of toxic industrial chemicals like Hydrofluoric Acid (HF). Unlike other chemical releases, HF produces a heavier-than-air persistent vapor cloud that is toxic to people, animals, and plant life. Specific medical countermeasures are needed to treat HF injuries, yet these are in short supply. Department of Homeland Security also recently completed a three-year effort to develop a new framework and strategic approach to chemical incident preparedness (for terrorist incidents and accidents). Although the efforts were independent, there were many commonalities, including the use of advanced computational modeling by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to simulate chemical release scenarios. Another significant similar approach was to enhance the risk assessment process to incorporate information about the jurisdiction’s response capability. A new toolset was developed called a Response Risk Assessment (RRA). In its pilot program, DHS completed the RRA at five cities across the United States (including Houston as part of the Super Bowl preparedness effort). At the conclusion of the meeting, the Office of Health Affairs and UTMB agreed to pilot test the RRA Toolset in Galveston County Texas with the assistance of UTMB. The ultimate goal is to roll out the toolset to all U.S. jurisdictions for self-assessments. The presentation will use HF as a case study on use of an enhanced risk assessment process to build healthcare continuity. Another aspect of preparedness examined is the use of a combination of an all-chemical hazards approach – with – a specific planning approach for Priority Risk chemicals in a given region. UTMB now sponsors an annual HF incident symposium that includes national and international experts in various aspects of the response. Honeywell, the world’s largest producers of HF, participates in UTMB’s annual HF Exercise and Symposium. The project won a University of Texas National Security Excellence grant and was the basis for a recent award of a Combined Coordinated Terrorist Attack (CCTA) preparedness grant from Department of Homeland Security/FEMA.

Active Shooter events at a healthcare facility present unique challenges; healthcare professionals may be faced with decisions about leaving patients; visitors will be present; and patients or staff may not be able to evacuate due to age, injury, illness, or a medical procedure in progress. Workplace violence is another challenge that every organization may face; however, in the healthcare setting, there are more vulnerabilities due to patients and unique tensions that may result in a higher risk of injury. In this presentation, we will discuss how to effectively utilize threat assessment teams and how to develop a healthcare workplace violence program that will minimize the destruction if violence occurs.

The 2017 hurricane season hit healthcare organizations hard. Hear from your peers at healthcare institutions as they relate their experiences before, during, and after the storms with a focus on lessons learned. While our panelists are from the healthcare sector, the information they will share is informative and applicable to all.

It seems that every industry or government agency wants DR and BC to be done a little bit differently. Some overlap and some don’t. Throw in a standard or two, and the plot really gets complicated. If your company touches multiple industries or agencies, how can you be in compliance? Let’s take a look at some regulations, standards, and guidelines and turn the heap of ingredients into alphabet soup that we can digest. We will look at BC and DR requirements and see if we can serve up components that can help your program be palatable and in compliance with multiple menus. Start participating now by helping out the beforehand. Send Bobby Williams a message detailing the standards, regulations, or guidelines with which you must comply. This session is meant to have gobal reach so North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, or Antarctica, get in on this! We don’t want anything to be left out and this is one time where there can’t be too many cooks in the kitchen. You can find Bobby on LinkedIn here or email your message to brojas@drii.org.

Organizations are becoming more proactive in assessing their programs and doing so in a more robust manner. This not only leads to them being more resilient but also reduces the effort associated with simply preparing for an audit. This webinar will examine how organizations are addressing regulatory compliance, which regulations they face, and how a pre-assessment program will help them be more resilient and improve their compliance.

Angeli Medina, NYHHS, NYC, presents on business continuity in the healthcare sector.

Attend this session for an up-close, case study look at hospital preparedness in the state of Illinois. From humble beginning to the current continuity and Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP), we will explore lessons learned that can be applied to any organization with an evolving program and attendees will come away with an understanding of how a plan rooted in emergency response has grown to encompass business continuity. OSF HealthCare, owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, Peoria, Illinois, includes OSF Healthcare System consisting of 11 acute care facilities and two colleges of nursing. It also has a primary care physician network consisting of over 1000 primary care, specialist physicians, and advanced practice providers. OSF HealthCare is a multi-state corporation, operating facilities in Illinois and Michigan, providing state-of-the-art, compassionate care to nearly 3 million people in the communities we serve.

Given the high level of risk at the UTMB Campus, we work to eliminate the subjectivity of the risk assessment process as much as possible and to quantify that risk where possible. The risk assessment process is the foundation of UTMB’s Preparedness Program and it affords officials the the best information to optimize preparedness and respond to incidents. An overview of the Preparedness Program will be provided — looking at specific examples of risk quantification including hurricanes and chemical incidents (Hydrofluoric Acid incidents in particular).

On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy barreled through the northeast, leaving unprecedented damage and a devastated NYU Langone Medical Center in her wake. Attend this session for more than just the "war story." You'll find out what happened (hundreds of faculty, staff, and students - in partnership with the FDNY, NYPD, Office of Emergency Management, and volunteers - evacuated 322 patients from a building that had no power, lights, or functioning elevators) as well as what has happened since the NYU Langone reopened and reimagined business continuity program. Find out about the critical success factors in making BCP work in a healthcare setting and learn about the challenges BC professionals face in transitioning into a healthcare environment at this informative session.

Faced with regulatory requirements, increasingly-complex technology, ransomware attacks, and now the Zika virus, continuity professionals in healthcare have their hands full. Hear from them about those challenges and more.

Given the high level of risk at the UTMB Campus, we work to eliminate the subjectivity of the risk assessment process as much as possible and to quantify that risk where possible. The risk assessment process is the foundation of UTMB's Preparedness Program and it affords officials the the best information to optimize preparedness and respond to incidents. An overview of the Preparedness Program will be provided - looking at specific examples of risk quantification including hurricanes and chemical incidents (Hydrofluoric Acid incidents in particular).

Attend this exciting session for an overview of the CDC's Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), including the goals of the GHSA, major partners and contributors, and plans for helping countries to achieve GHSA targets.

Find out about the critical success factors in making BCP work in a healthcare setting, and learn about the challenges BC professionals face in transitioning into a healthcare environment at this informative session.

In this two-page sample case, learn how Texas hospitals responded to Tropical Storm Allison in June, 2001. Then download the complete report!

This case study report looks at some of the most recent and devastating emergency situations to learn how healthcare facilities and staffers prepared for -- and reacted to -- catastrophes that put enormous strain on their facilities, their workforces, and their patients.

Come to this session to learn about the key trends shaping the continuity healthcare environment, as well as the business issues influencing healthcare preparedness planning, including: Regulatory Compliance Risk Management and Patient Safety Revenue Disruption Impact Analysis Accreditation Processes and Cost Cost Avoidance Attendees also will hear about a number of actual case studies and lessons learned.