Title: Healthcare and Public Health
Course: Critical Infrastructure: An Overview > Section: Course Content

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Healthcare and Public Health

In addition to the obvious activity of keeping the people of the United States healthy and responding to emergencies and threats to the well-being of the citizens of the United States, the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector also contributes significantly to the country’s economy. The sector contains many elements, some are owned privately, and its complicated nature makes it a hard target to protect [1]. The sector works to mitigate interruptions to the delivery of healthcare and public health services, while mitigating the health impacts from disasters and incidents [2].

Why It Is Considered Critical?

A breakdown in the HPH sector could mean a loss of human life, but could also bring with it significant economic hardship. Other critical infrastructure sectors that depend on HPH would also be negatively affected in the event of an HPH breakdown.

The HPH sector has determined their specific goals to be:

- “Service Continuity - Maintain the ability to provide essential health services during and after disasters or disruptions in the availability of supplies or supporting services (e.g., water, power);
- Workforce Protection - Protect the sector’s workforce from the harmful consequences of all hazards that may compromise their health and safety and limit their ability to carry out their responsibilities;
- Physical Asset Protection - Mitigate the risks posed by all hazards to the sector’s physical assets; and
- Cybersecurity - Mitigate risks to the sector’s cyber assets that may result in disruption to or denial of health services”

[3]

This sector focuses on being ready to serve in case of disasters and emergencies. Hospitals are not the only healthcare entities that are included in the HPH sector. The HPH sector is involved from research and development of medications including vaccines to their production, distribution, and sales. Medical equipment, supplies, mortuary services, and public healthcare services also fall under the sector. Professionals in the field who are involved in HPS sector include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, veterinarians, clinical laboratory technicians, respiratory therapists, and radiological and nuclear medicine technologists and technicians [2].

Some Major Elements in HPH Sector

- Ambulatory Healthcare Services
- Blood and Organ Banks
- Health Departments
- Healthcare Personnel
- Health Insurers
- Hospitals
- Medical Device Companies
- Nursing and Residential Care Facilities
- Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
- Retail Pharmacies

[3]

One challenge faced by the sector, is to prepare to meet the needs of these emergencies and disasters in a way that minimizes the effect on healthcare to those not affected by the emergency/disaster. Some particular recommendations and regulations call for the stockpiling of emergency medical supplies to enable care for patients in emergency situations.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the Sector Specific Agency (SSA) for the HPH Sector. Federal partners with the HPH sector would include the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is involved in the securing and protecting of the HPH sector, and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Defense (DoD), who operate healthcare programs.

Priorities

The protection of data, of patients’ ability to request and receive care, and increased methods of information sharing among HPH professionals are all priorities of the HPH Sector [3].

Threats

Threats to the HPH sector would include terrorism, natural disaster, and cyber threats.

Dependencies

The HPH sector depends on the Emergency Services, Transportation, Information Technology, Energy, Food and Agriculture, Water, and Chemical Sectors. And all sectors depend on HPH to keep the public (including workers in each sector) healthy [3].