Hazard Vulnerability Assessment

Statewide Hazard Vulnerability Assessment and Resource Gap Analysis

The Arizona Coalition for Healthcare Emergency Response (AzCHER) conducted a Statewide Hazard Vulnerability Assessment (HVA) and Resource Gap Analysis (RGA) from July 2024 to September 2024 to identify the healthcare coalition’s most significant risks. The HVA/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 2024-25 HVA/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 2024-2025

Statewide Top 5 Healthcare Hazards:

  1. Extreme Heat
  2. Monsoon Weather
  3. Communications / Telephone Failure / Network Failure
  4. Staffing Shortage
  5. Cyberattack
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:

  • HAZMAT PPE
  • Documentation of transportation resources across all member types
  • Advanced ICS training for EOC staff
  • Evacuation resources – patient tracking and documentation of transport options
  • Lack of comprehensive documentation of EMS resources throughout the state

Member-Driven Process at the Regional Level

The objective of the HVA/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. Aggregated HVA survey data was then entered into the AzCHER HVA 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 HVA/RGA process engaged 132 member organizations and consulted a HVA/RGA work group from each region and is representative of the main healthcare sectors.