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Volunteer health care provider databases are essential in a city-wide emergency, as this helps reinforce the first response efforts with expert medical and mental health services. A number of databases have been created and are being maintained by organizations including the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the New York State Department of Health, the Medical Society of the State of New York, and the New York State Nurses Association. Maintaining and updating such databases on a regular basis is key to the successful implementation of an emergency response.
Through the Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Healthcare Personnel (ESAR-VHP) program, New York City will be enhancing recruitment and credential verification for volunteer health care providers, with increased emphasis on recruiting and credentialing clinical staff and behavioral health specialists not currently being actively recruited for the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). This program will review and consolidate existing data to organize the 3,000+ volunteers in the MRC database. The program will also research issues associated with the registration, credentialing, and use of volunteers in a hospital setting – and define steps that must be taken to implement a rapid credentialing system in a multi-hospital jurisdiction. Information technology applications will be developed to facilitate the sharing, transfer, and verification of volunteer personnel registration and credentialing information with the New York State Department of Health and other relevant stakeholders.
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If you’re a health care provider, learn more about the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC):
www.medicalreserve.org
(866) NYC-DOH1/(866) 692-3641
healthmrc@health.nyc.gov
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