Hospital Preparedness Program Cooperative Agreement | EP U3R 19 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for EP U3R 19 001

The Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) Cooperative Agreement is a discretionary funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), administered through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). ASPR is the federal office responsible for helping the nation prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies and disasters that affect health. This program is notable because it is described as the only federal funding source focused specifically on health care delivery system readiness, meaning it is aimed less at general public health activities and more at ensuring hospitals and related providers can keep delivering care during crises.

At the center of the program is the idea that preparedness has to be built and maintained across an entire local or regional health system, not just within a single hospital. The program’s main strategy for doing that is supporting Health Care Coalitions (HCCs). These coalitions are structured partnerships that bring together hospitals, health systems, emergency medical services (EMS), public health agencies, emergency management, and other partners that may normally operate independently or even compete with each other. During a major incident, however, patient loads, supply shortages, staffing constraints, and infrastructure disruption can quickly overwhelm any one organization. HCCs are meant to create the relationships, coordination routines, communication pathways, and shared planning needed so that the health system can operate as a connected network when day-to-day capacity is exceeded.

The opportunity emphasizes that readiness is a shared responsibility across private health care organizations, government agencies, and the lead entities responsible for Emergency Support Function 8 (ESF-8), which covers Public Health and Medical Services. In practical terms, the program positions HCCs as a key coordination and information-sharing hub within a jurisdiction, because effective emergency health response requires many different public and private entities to align quickly on situational awareness, resource allocation, patient movement, and consistent operational decisions.

Programmatic expectations are tied to ASPR’s 2017-2022 Health Care Preparedness and Response Capabilities framework. That document outlines the capabilities considered necessary for a well-prepared health care delivery system in the United States, describing the preparedness and response activities that partners such as HCCs, hospitals, and EMS should be able to perform. The grant’s intent is that recipients use HPP funding to make measurable progress toward the goals embedded in those capabilities. The overall outcome ASPR is driving toward is straightforward: during emergencies, patients should receive the right care, at the right place, at the right time, with the right resources. Building those capabilities is framed as a way to reduce deaths, injuries, and illness during disasters and to strengthen resilience so communities can recover more rapidly after catastrophic events.

The specific purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to strengthen and expand acute care medical surge capacity by maintaining and growing strong HCCs in every HPP-funded state, territory, freely associated state, and locality. "Medical surge" here refers to the ability of the health system to rapidly scale up to manage a sudden or sustained increase in patient volume or acuity, such as after a mass casualty incident, infectious disease outbreak, or large-scale natural disaster. Rather than treating surge capacity as only a hospital problem, the FOA treats it as a regional system function that depends on coalition planning, shared protocols, coordinated decision-making, and documented readiness across partners.

Administratively, this opportunity is offered as a cooperative agreement, which typically signals substantial federal involvement in program oversight and technical direction compared with a standard grant. The funding opportunity number is EP U3R 19 001, with CFDA number 93.889, and it falls under the health funding activity category. Eligibility is limited to state governments, reflecting an intent to route preparedness funding through statewide or jurisdictional entities that can organize coalitions and align activities across regions. The original posting date was March 4, 2019, and the original closing date was May 3, 2019. The opportunity anticipated 62 awards, and it listed an award ceiling of $23,274,780.

Taken together, the grant opportunity is designed to support a statewide, coalition-driven approach to emergency preparedness for the health care delivery system. It prioritizes building and sustaining the coordination structures and response capabilities that allow hospitals, EMS, and public partners to function as an integrated network under stress, with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes, reducing reliance on extraordinary federal or supplemental state assistance during crises, and enabling faster recovery after major incidents.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Hospital Preparedness Program Cooperative Agreement" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.889.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 04, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 03, 2019 No Explanation. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $23,274,780.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 62 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments.

Apply for EP U3R 19 001

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