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National Disaster Medical System


The National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) is a federally coordinated healthcare system and partnership of the United States Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS), Defense (DOD), and Veterans Affairs (VA). The purpose of the NDMS is to support State, local, Tribal, Territorial authorities following disasters and emergencies by supplementing health and medical systems and response capabilities. NDMS would also support the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs health care systems in caring for combat casualties, should requirements exceed their capacity.

The Department of Health and Human Services, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), in its role as Coordinator of Emergency Support Function#8 (ESF-8), Public Health and Medical Services, of the National Response Framework (NRF), employs the NDMS to provide patient care, patient movement, and definitive care, as well as veterinary services, and fatality management support when requested by authorities from States, localities, Tribes and Territories, or other federal departments. Some common missions for NDMS include: augmenting a hospital in a disaster area to decompress the overtaxed emergency department; providing veterinary services to federal working animals during National Security Special Events, such as the Presidential Inauguration; and, supporting the National Transportation Safety Board and affected localities with fatality management services following major transportation disasters. Although NDMS is primarily a domestic disaster response capability, NDMS teams and personnel have also responded to disasters internationally, such as in Iraq and Haiti following devastating earthquakes.

NDMS has three major components:

Over 5,000 NDMS civilian medical personnel (IFEs) are organized into a number of types of teams, designed to provide medical services supporting the Federal Public Health and Medical Services (Emergency Support Function - 8) mission.

The NDMS is made up of several teams that have specific capabilities.

Over 1,800 civilian hospitals in the U.S. are voluntary members of NDMS. Their role is to provide approximately 100,000 hospital beds to support NDMS operations in an emergency. When a civilian or military crisis requires the activation of the NDMS system, participating hospitals communicate their available bed types and numbers to a central control point. Patients can be distributed to a number of hospitals without overwhelming any one facility with casualties.


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