VHA Office of Emergency Management

The National Incident Management System (NIMS)* provides a systematic, proactive approach to guide departments and agencies at all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to work seamlessly to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity, in order to reduce the loss of life and property and harm the environment.

NIMS works hand-in-hand with the National Response Framework (NRF)*. NIMS provides the template for the management of incidents, while the NRF provides the structure and mechanisms for national-level policy for incident management.

References

• FY2008 and FY2009 NIMS Implementation Objectives for Healthcare Organizations*
• About NIMS Compliance for Hospitals (87 KB, PDF)
• NIMS Training Course Descriptions (37 KB, PDF)
• Hospital Incident Command System (HICS)*