Reporting Hotline for Health Care Providers

As part of the Department's emergency preparedness planning initiatives and technical assistance, the following guidance is provided to assist health care facilities in their emergency preparedness planning efforts.

The purpose of this memorandum is to notify health care providers of the method for contacting the Department of Health Services (DHS) to report public health or human service emergencies. DHS has a 24-hour emergency telephone hotline for this purpose: 1-608-258-0099. This number connects to a 24-hour answering service. Based on the type of reported occurrence your information will be forwarded to the appropriate on-call staff.

Call 608-258-0099 to report the following types of events/incidents:

Chemical or natural disasters - chemical spills, tornadoes, floods, Emergency Operation Center activation, evacuations, utility interruptions, etc
Nuclear/radiological
Communicable Disease - human and animal, immunizations; etc, and
Human Services - Emergency Operation Center activation, sheltering, special needs population evacuations, mental health issues, crisis counseling, etc.

The Division of Quality Assurance requires specific notification in one other instance:

All fires in a licensed health or residential care facility in Wisconsin must be reported to the Department of Health Services within 72 hours. Please refer to BQA Memo 00-017 at the following site: http://dhs.wisconsin.gov/rl_DSL/Publications/00-017.htm Written reports can be submitted to the Department by using form DDE-2500, but all fires in a Wisconsin licensed health or residential facility that result in serious injury or death must be reported to the DHS hotline.

When calling be prepared to provide the following information:

1. Your name

2. The agency/facility you are with

3. The telephone number including area code where you can
    be reached

4. The type of incident/event, chemical or natural disaster;
    communicable disease; nuclear/radiological; or, public
    health or human services

5. A brief description of the incident/event, including the
    date and time of the incident

6. The facility name and/or location where the incident
    occurred

7. Any other pertinent information

Call the hotline number even if you are in doubt as to whether you need to report an incident. Your information will be forwarded to the DHS staff on call for public health and human services. Depending on the incident, the DHS on-call staff will forward the information to appropriate contacts for necessary action, and/or contact you for additional information.

This memorandum should be shared with all staff. The DHS 24-hour emergency hotline number, 1-608-258-0099 should be readily available to staff and posted in a prominent location. Please note that this number is not intended to be a means of contact with DHS for the general public. As such, the number should not be given to citizens.

For other types of emergencies, and to receive coordinated State agency assistance, contact the Wisconsin Emergency Management Hotline at 1-800-943-0003, 1-608 242-3232, or at http://emergencymanagement.wi.gov

In addition, you may also find information from the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program, Public Health Emergencies preparedness guide, at http://dhs.wisconsin.gov/preparedness/pdf_files/PublicHealthGuide.pdf

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Reporting Hotline for Health Care Providers

Reporting Hotline for Health Care Providers