Community Hazard Vulnerability Assessment

Statewide Community Hazard Vulnerability Assessment and Resource Gap Analysis

The Arizona Coalition for Healthcare Emergency Response (AzCHER) conducted a Statewide Community Hazard Vulnerability Assessment (CHVA) and Resource Gap Analysis (RGA) from September 2023 to December 2023 to identify the healthcare coalition’s most significant risks. The CHVA/RGA process is an analysis of capacities and capabilities to address a medical surge and is intended to determine resource needs and gaps. Subsequently, the 2023-24 CHVA/RGA results inform AzCHER’s preparedness priorities in training, exercising, and planning. Our members can benefit by incorporating these results into their plans and exercises. 

AzCHER Community Hazard Vulnerability List 2023-2024

Statewide Top 5 Healthcare Hazards:

  1. Temperature Extreme (Heat)
  2. Staffing Shortage
  3. Severe Weather
  4. Cyberattack
  5. Communications / Telephone Failure / Network Failure
AzCHER Top Gaps in Planning and Resources

Statewide Planning Gaps:

  • AzCHER Emergency Response Plan and Annexes
  • Hospital Crisis Care/ Crisis Standards of Care
    Plan
  • Healthcare Emergency Operations Plan
  • Healthcare Training and Exercise Plan

Statewide Resource Gaps:

  • Transportation resources for specific emergency type (burn, pediatric, HAZMAT)
  • Notification platforms for Outpatient, Home Health, and Hospice
  • HAZMAT supplies (patient redress kits, chemical assets
  • Documentation of transportation resources across all member types
  • PPE in hospitals for highly infectious disease

Member-Driven Process at the Regional Level

The objective of the CHVA/RGA is to represent the whole community and the collective needs through a member-driven process. Members were asked to report on their facility HVA results, recent emergency activations, current organizational plans, and resource inventory, through a survey (Appendix 1). Aggregated HVA survey data was then entered into the AzCHER CHVA tool for a comprehensive community analysis that included an in-depth evaluation of relative risk scores. Similarly, the summarized RGA plan data was entered into the ASPR TRACIE Resource and Gap Analysis tool to include composite risk scores. Results from both tools and aggregated resource data were presented to regional work groups, who led the process of identifying and prioritizing the likely hazards the region could face and discussed any gaps in plans and resources. Across the state, the CHVA/RGA process engaged 227 member organizations and consulted a CHVA/RGA work group from each region and is representative of the main healthcare sectors.