Issue Brief 11-30
July 27, 2011
Summary 

On July 1, 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced $352 million in federal fiscal year (FY) 2011 funds for the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP). This is in addition to approximately $614 million in funding available for the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) program, which is expected to be released next month. These grants are awarded to states, territories, and four local governments (the District of Columbia, New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles County).

In recent years, grantees have seen a notable reduction in funding for these programs. At their peak, HPP and PHEP received approximately $500 million and $900 million respectively. Moreover, beginning in FY 2009, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (P.L. 109-417) added a matching requirement for states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico (5% of federal funds in FY 2009, increasing to 10% in FY 2010 and subsequent years). (All awardees must meet a long-standing maintenance-of-effort requirement.) P.L. 109-417 also required that the secretary of HHS withhold funds from grantees that failed to substantially meet evidence-based benchmarks or submit an acceptable influenza operations plan.

While overall funding levels for FY 2012 remain uncertain, some states can expect to see changes in their individual allocations next year because population from the 2010 decennial census will be utilized for the first time.