The Nursing Home Incident Command System (NHICS) should be considered an essential component of a facility’s Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) that includes events such as pandemics. Proper utilization of NHICS requires that facilities provide its staff with comprehensive training and exercise of the system.  NHICS is a resilient incident management model that will guide a facility on managing a situation, either emergent or non-emergent, in a consistent manner in accordance with concepts promoted by the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

Activation and utilization of NHICS should be clearly defined in a facility’s EOP.  Regardless of the specific nature of the emergent or non-emergency event, it is recommended that the system be activated in the early stages of incident management to help ensure that a consistent process is utilized as the event either escalates or de-escalates in size, complexity and scope.  Further, utilization of NHICS will help promote “interoperability” with the community’s emergency responders (fire, police, EMS, etc.) as they also utilize a version of the Incident Command System (ICS) on all types of emergency situations.

This section will provide you with the basics of NHICS including videos and pertinent forms and tools.

Nursing Home Incident Command Systems (NHICS) Activation Guidance

Description: This document provides guidance on when to utilize the Nursing Home Incident Command System (NHICS) in a facility. It is recommended that this document is downloaded and included in a facility’s Emergency Operations Plan (disaster plan).

Download the Word (docx) file here | Download pdf here

NHICS Guidebook

Incident Command Post Information

Description: This document provides guidance on establishing an Incident Command Post in a facility in accordance with the Nursing Home Incident Command System (NHICS). It is recommended that this document is included in a facility’s Emergency Operations Plan (disaster plan) upon completion.

Download the Word (docx) file here | Download the pdf version here

In This Section