⚙ DEMO ENVIRONMENT — Fictional data only. Resets nightly. View as: Facility Partner Exit Demo

Glossary

Response-management vocabulary used on the Health Response Hub.

4W
Who is doing What, Where, by When. The OCHA standard for tracking response activity. On the Hub, each claim is a 4W record.
Affected state
A U.S. state or territory included in the geographic scope of a declared incident. Drives filtering, notifications, and reporting.
ASPR
Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (HHS). Leads federal public health and medical preparedness and response.
ASTHO
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. National non-profit representing public health agencies of U.S. states, territories, freely associated states, and the District of Columbia.
Claim
A partner's commitment to fulfill some or all of a facility's request. Moves through Planned, In Progress, Completed, Verified, or Withdrawn.
CMS
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Maintains the NPPES registry the Hub uses for NPI verification.
Declaration of Emergency
Formal proclamation by federal, state, tribal, or local authority that unlocks emergency authorities, funding, and mutual aid. Federal declarations are tracked via the FEMA API.
Demobilization
Wind-down of active response operations. A specific partner deployment state.
EOC
Emergency Operations Center. Physical or virtual hub from which a jurisdiction directs response.
ESF-8
Emergency Support Function 8: Public Health and Medical Services under the National Response Framework. Led federally by HHS / ASPR; mirrored at state and local levels.
FEMA
Federal Emergency Management Agency. Coordinates federal response under the Stafford Act; declarations feed the Hub's situational summary.
FQHC
Federally Qualified Health Center. Community-based, federally-funded health center that serves underserved populations.
HCC
Healthcare Coalition. Region-level group of healthcare and response partners that plans and exercises together. ASPR funds HCCs nationally.
HRA
Health Response Alliance. The non-profit that builds and runs this platform.
Incident
A named event the Hub is tracking (for example, "Hurricane Tropical Storm Henri, Sept 2026"). Each incident has a start date, affected states, status, and a roll-up of facility status, requests, and claims.
Mobilization
A partner's decision to engage in a response and the preparation that follows. Specific deployment state.
NACHC
National Association of Community Health Centers. Membership organization for FQHCs and similar community-based providers.
NAFC
National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. Membership organization for free and charitable clinics nationwide.
NPI
National Provider Identifier. Ten-digit identifier issued by CMS for healthcare providers. The Hub uses NPI to verify facility identity against the federal NPPES registry.
NPPES
National Plan and Provider Enumeration System. CMS-maintained database of NPI records. Public API; the Hub queries it for autofill.
OCHA
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Originator of the 4W framing the Hub uses for claim tracking.
Operational period
A defined work cycle within a response, commonly 12 or 24 hours. Facilities are expected to re-report status at the start of each.
PII
Personally Identifiable Information. Patient PII never appears on the Hub. Staff names and contact information are stored only at the organization-account level.
Recovery
Post-acute phase of a response focused on restoring services and supporting long-term needs. Specific deployment state.
Request
A facility's submission describing an unmet operational need. Has a category, quantity, priority, and free-text detail. Open until claimed and fulfilled.
Situational summary
Twice-daily narrative published by HRA that blends FEMA declarations, public-health RSS feeds, and platform activity. Visible without login on the landing page.
SITREP
Situational Report. Periodic written summary of the operating picture. The Hub treats SITREP as a document type.
Substitute
An acceptable alternative to a requested item (for example, KN95 in place of N95). Stating substitutes on a request speeds matching.
Suspension
Temporary block on a previously-approved organization. The org's users keep accounts but cannot view dashboards, browse needs, or submit claims until reinstated.
Ushahidi
Open-source crisis-mapping platform that powers the public map at /hub. Origin: the platform was first built during the 2008 Kenyan election crisis.
Vetted partner
An organization HRA has reviewed for insurance, references, and operational readiness, and approved to claim needs.

Missing a term? Email [email protected] and we will add it.

Still stuck? Email [email protected]. HRA staff respond within four hours during business hours, faster during a declared incident.
Page last updated May 14, 2026

The Health Response Hub works offline and can be installed like a native app on any phone, tablet, or computer — no app store required.

Install on your phone

iPhone / iPad: Open healthresponse.us in Safari → tap the Share button (box with arrow) → tap Add to Home Screen → tap Add. The Hub appears as an app icon.

Android: Open healthresponse.us in Chrome → tap the three-dot menu → tap Add to Home Screen or Install app. Chrome may also show a banner at the bottom.

Desktop (Chrome or Edge): Look for the install icon (+ in a circle) in the address bar → click it → click Install.

What works without internet
  • Any dashboard or page you have recently visited
  • The open needs list and request details
  • Your facility dashboard and active requests
  • Help pages and documents
Submitting forms when offline

If you submit a resource request, status update, or claim while offline, the Hub saves it automatically and uploads it the moment your connection returns — even if the app is closed. A red notification badge on the Help button and a purple bar at the bottom of the screen show how many items are waiting to sync.

Tips for field use
  • Load your dashboard before going into a low-connectivity area — it will stay available
  • The live map tiles may not load offline, but facility data you have viewed will
  • Log in before going offline — your session stays active for 24 hours
  • If a sync fails repeatedly, tap Try again on the offline page or reload when connected