Issue Brief 10-31
July 14, 2010
Summary 

On July 7, 2010, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced $391 million in federal fiscal year (FY) 2010 funds for the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP). This is in addition to $688 million in funding for the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) program, which was released in May 2010. These grants are awarded to states, the District of Columbia, territories, and three local governments (New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles County).

Table 1 shows the allocations for the two programs from FYs 2007–2010. Relative to FY 2007 levels, these new awards represent a reduction in funding of almost 6% for HPP and 23% for PHEP. The funding loss for PHEP is intensified by one-time funding provided in FY 2007 for pandemic influenza preparedness and to improve the capabilities of poison control centers. Through the FY 2009 supplemental appropriations process, Congress did provide funds to upgrade state and local pandemic influenza preparedness and response capacity. However, unlike FY 2007, it did so through a new grant program. 

In FY 2010, the matching requirement for both programs increased to 10% of the grant amount, up from 5% in FY 2009. FY 2009 marked the first year of a matching requirement for grantees as well as the ability of the secretary of HHS to withhold funds from grantees that failed to meet evidence-based benchmarks. Both changes were included in the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (P.L. 109-417).