Strategic Goal 3: Improve and leverage partnerships with healthcare and public health stakeholders

Resilient systems at the SLTT and regional levels are essential for anticipating and planning an effective public health emergency or disaster response. ASPR can take steps to ensure its partners have the resources, tools, and information they need to build and maintain resilience before, during, and after disasters.

Objective 3.1 Key Milestones:

1. Strengthen coordination with SLTTs, regional partners, and the private sector to build public health and healthcare infrastructure capacity and resilience, and to identify critical gaps that should be addressed in public health and medical support.
2. Bolster existing public-private partnerships that empower and equip healthcare entities to prepare for and respond to public health emergencies.
3. Identify and mobilize associations, organizations, and private sector and SLTT partners that have capabilities to inform and support ASPR programs and priorities.
4. Provide clear guidance on coordinated MCM distribution to ensure stakeholder expectations and needs are met.
5. Provide SLTT, public health, and healthcare partners with guidance and resources to strengthen workforce resilience and retention.

Cultivating enduring partnerships with industry is critical to sustain the capabilities needed to guarantee continued access to the vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and other medical products that are vital to our nation’s health security. ASPR has an opportunity to build on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 response to identify opportunities to build a robust public health industrial base.

Objective 3.2 Key Milestones:

1. Identify innovative partnerships and promising practices from COVID-19 that can be adapted for future disasters and public health emergencies.
2. Identify additional incentive mechanisms to engage MCM developers and stimulate private sector investment and innovation across the range of the MCM technology base.
3. Improve transparency and accountability in ASPR preparedness and response planning through active promotion of federal registry notices or solicitation of input from the public via social media and other communications channels.
4. Improve partnerships with industry and end-users in the medical and public health community so that MCMs provide the best possible utilization.

ASPR has a responsibility to ensure that the needs of at-risk individuals and underserved populations are met during public health emergencies and disasters. This requires ASPR to leverage existing or establish new partnerships with stakeholders who prioritize health equity in public health emergency preparedness, response, and recovery.

Objective 3.3 Key Milestones:

1. Expand partnership opportunities through flexible contract mechanisms and cooperative agreements.
2. Identify best practices from interagency, SLTT, and healthcare sector partners to inform resource prioritization and decision-making.
3. Identify opportunities to partner with small businesses and/or those owned by underserved populations to target gaps in service provision.
4. Collaborate with SLTT and healthcare organization partners serving underserved communities to ensure chronic and primary care services are not disrupted during incidents.
   

ASPR’s partners need a common operating picture to coordinate effectively during responses. This necessitates real-time, streamlined, bidirectional information sharing with our partners and trusted messengers who can work with ASPR program offices to speed up response time and provide needed resources.

Objective 3.4 Key Milestones:

1. Position ASPR as a trusted leader and messenger of public health and medical preparedness and response communications, including risk management information for the Healthcare and Public Health Sector.
2. Leverage ASPR’s regional offices to connect with and communicate to partners, including Congress and SLTT governments, public health, and healthcare organizations.
3. Conduct exercises with regional and SLTT partners to identify communication gaps and improve coordination during response.