National Disaster Medical System

The National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) is a section of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS),that is responsible managing Federal government's medical response to major emergencies and disasters.

NDMS’s federal partners include the Federal Emergency Management Agency,  Department of Defense (DOD), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). NDMS also interfaces with state and local Departments of Health, as well as private hospitals. (Note:NDMS was returned to DHHS (US Department of Health and Human Services) on January 1, 2007 by an act of Congress).

NDMS has three major components :
 * 1) Emergency medical response with civilian medical teams, equipment, and supplies to a disaster area when local medical resources are overwhelmed
 * 2) Movement of ill and injured patients from a disaster area to areas unaffected by the disaster
 * 3) Definitive care of patients at hospitals in areas unaffected by the disaster.

Over 8,000 NDMS civilian volunteer medical personnel are organized into a number of types of medical teams, designed accomplish the emrgency medical response mission. Additional information in next section.

To move (evacuate) patients from a disaster area, transport is conducted by the United States Air Force and coordinated by Federal Coordinating Centers (FCCs) in each FEMA region. Patients arriving in the region are then dispersed to local NDMS participating hospital.

Over 1,800 civilian hospitals in the U.S. are members of NDMS. Their role is to provide approximately 100,000 treatment 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 space to a central control point. Patients are able to be distributed to a number of hospitals without overwhelming any one facility with casualties.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005, the NDMS system activated almost all of their civilian medical teams to assist victims in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi; helped evacuate hundreds of medical patients from the affected areas; and augmented medical staffing levels at hospitals impacted by the evacuations.

NDMS Teams
The NDMS is made up of several smaller teams that each focus on a particular area of disaster relief.


 * Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) - provides medical care during a disaster or other incident.
 * National Medical Response Team (NMRT) - provides mass decontamination and medical care to victims of a release of Weapons of Mass Destruction, or a large scale release of Hazardous Material.
 * Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) - provide victim identification and mortuary services during a disaster or other incident.
 * National Veterinary Response Team (NVRT) - provides assistance in assessing the need for veterinary services following major disasters or emergencies
 * Federal Coordinating Centers (FCCs) - recruits hospitals and maintain local non-Federal hospital participation in the NDMS and coordinates exercise development and emergency plans
 * National Pharmacy Response Team (NPRT) - assist in chemoprophylaxis or the vaccination of large numbers of Americans in response to an emergency such as a disease outbreak
 * National Nurse Response Team (NNRT) - A specialty DMAT that will be used in any scenario requiring hundreds of nurses to assist in chemoprophylaxis, a mass vaccination program, or a situation that overwhelms the nation’s supply of nurses.