NIMS AND THE HOSPITAL EMERGENCY INCIDENT 
COMMAND SYSTEM

The NIMS Integration Center has received a number of questions 
recently concerning the relationship between the Hospital 
Emergency Incident Command System (HEICS) and the National Incident 
Management System (NIMS). HEICS is an ICS-based crisis management 
plan for hospitals to use to coordinate their own response to 
emergencies or disasters. NIMS establishes standard protocols and 
procedures for incident managers and responders to work together 
to prepare for and respond to incidents of all kinds, including 
natural disasters and acts of terrorism. 



Contrary to rumors and recent reports: 

Hospitals do not have to replace HEICS with NIMS. The new 
HEICS needs to be NIMS compliant, not replaced by it. We are 
working with California Emergency Medical System Authority to 
make sure HEICS IV is fully compatible. The current version of 
HEICS was issued before NIMS was released and there is no 
reason to stop using it now. Hopefully the revised HEICS will have 
what it takes to be NIMS compliant. Already it addresses the ICS 
component of NIMS.

The deadline for full compliance with NIMS is by the end of FY 
2006. That means jurisdictions and emergency services 
organizations that receive federal preparedness funding have until 
Sept. 30, 2006, to achieve full compliance. 

Everyone working in a hospital does not have to be NIMS 
trained. We recommend that only those directly involved in 
emergency response activities take the NIMS introductory course 
offered by FEMA's Emergency Management Institute (IS-700 
NIMS, An Introduction). It is just that, a three-hour introductory 
course intended to familiarize persons in the emergency 
preparedness and response community with NIMS; much of the 
course focuses on the ICS component of the NIMS. It is up to the 
state or county to decide who must take it in order for the 
jurisdiction to be compliant with NIMS. 

Hospitals are an important component of the emergency 
response/services community. They do not operate in isolation 
from other responders involved in a major event. We recognize that 
HEICS is part of a larger emergency management program and we 
support current efforts to make it NIMS compliant. There are other 
hospital emergency management programs and we expect to work 
with them also.

If you have any questions or comments you want to share with us, 
please do by sending us an e-mail at NIMS-Integration-
Center@dhs.gov or calling us at 202-646-3850.  Please visit our 
Web site for ongoing information about NIMS at 
www.fema.gov/nims. 

The NIMS Integration Center
DHS/FEMA
May 13, 2005