Illinois Hospital Association

Members Login Automatically
login		   User ID:   Password: Forgot your password?
Don't have a password?

August 10, 2007

Illinois Hospital Disaster Volunteers Program

The following information, important to all Illinois hospitals, was provided by the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council (MCHC).

On August 1, 2007, the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council (MCHC) will launch the Illinois Hospital Disaster Volunteers (HDV) Program, an Emergency Systems for Advanced Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP) project. This program, funded through the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), is designed to pre-register and verify credentials of healthcare professional volunteers for deployment during disaster situations.

Recent experience with large-scale disasters such as Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that an effective response requires that healthcare volunteers be deployed through a coordinated, systematic effort. Following Katrina, area hospitals were scrambling to develop lists of personnel with their credentials to respond to relief efforts. The HDV system will streamline this effort. In the event of a disaster or a public health emergency, hospitals, health departments and Medical Reserve Corps units will be able to verify provider credentials and privilege status through HDV. The HDV system is a secure, internet based emergency response personnel management system. The system can only be activated by the Commissioner, Chicago Department of Public Health or the Director, Illinois Department of Public Health. However, during an internal hospital situation when hospitals determine the need for additional staff from outside resources, they may verify credentials on the HDV system.

By registering with HDV, a healthcare volunteer can be part of a database that, in the event of a significant disaster or public health emergency, will be accessed to determine available healthcare personnel. Upon activation of the system, a relevant alert message will be sent to HDV registrants whose credentials are appropriate to meet the needs of the emergency situation. Those individuals will be asked to respond, specifying their availability.

The HDV data will be collected through the CredentialSmart professional credential verification system. This system is easy to navigate. A three-prong approach is used for registration and credential verification:

  1. Pre-registration – Healthcare providers can register on-line or a volunteer who is not pre-registered can provide basic enrollment data to a health care regional volunteer at a registration center, if available, at a response site.
  2. On-line Verification Portal – A provider’s credentials are immediately verified through all on-line verification sources. The registration system provides for immediate submission and retrieval of needed primary source data to assess a provider’s competency. The Joint Commission requires primary source verification of current licensure/certification or registration required to practice a profession. This system will meet that requirement. With the on-line verification feature, any hospital assigned healthcare personnel in an emergency situation can instantly verify the volunteer provider’s credentials.
  3. Hospital Privilege Verification – A provider’s current privilege status at their home institution is verified. A verification report is generated showing the hospitals at which the provider is on staff, his/her staff category, the specialty(ies) in which he/she is privileged to practice in the facility, as well as any special skills the provider may possess.

The HDV program will commence on August 1, 2007. The entire state of Illinois will employ the HDV registration system. The state of Wisconsin currently utilizes the same registration system.

Using the HDV program, a hospital can download its entire staff for pre-registration. We learned during our response efforts in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina that it took some hospitals two weeks to verify their own staff’s credentials. This effort would take minutes if the information was uploaded on the HDV system. Each hospital will own its information and the hospital is the only entity that can change and/or alter the information. In order to use the HDV system to download hospital information directly, please contact MCHC at 312-906-6062.

In addition, members of the hospital staff may also register individually. The HDV program is hosted by MCHC with access to the registration form through MCHC website. To go directly to the registration form, click the following web address: https://www.mchc.com/hdv-program. Only MCHC, IDPH, and CDPH will be able to view all data gathered in the HDV system.

MCHC will host an overview and training program on the CredentialSmart professional credential verification system on Tuesday, August 21. In addition, programs are being scheduled in cooperation with the POD hospitals in the 11 EMS regions throughout the state. Additional training programs will be announced. Registration for training programs is online at: http://www.mchc.com under the Educational Programs – Emergency Preparedness section.

If you have any questions, please contact Patrick Finnegan, Director, Clinical, Administrative, Professional and Emergency Services, MCHC, at 312-906-6062 or via email at pfinnega@mchc.com.