National Disaster Medical System

The National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) is a system of the United States federal government that coordinates disaster-related medical services and support across the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS), Defense (DOD), and Veterans Affairs (VA). Established in 1984, NDMS organized through the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within DHHS and is part of the broader federal civil defense system called the National Response Framework.

NDMS provides medical assistance to the governments of states, local governments, tribes, and territories during disasters by supplementing their existing health systems when local capacity is overwhelmed. NDMS provides general emergency medicine, emergency medical services, acute medicine, ambulatory medicine, patient stabilization, patient transportation, facility management support as well as veterinary medicine. In wartime, it can also support military and VA hospitals if combat casualty numbers exceed their capacity.

Common NDMS missions include augmenting hospital capacity in disaster areas to relieve overtaxed emergency departments, providing veterinary care for federal working animals during national special security events such as presidential inaugurations, and managing fatalities following major transportation disasters in coordination with the National Transportation Safety Board and affected local government authorities.

While primarily designed for domestic disaster response, NDMS teams and personnel have been deployed internationally to assist with major disasters, including earthquakes in Iran and Haiti.