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A Public Service in Case of Emergency

PLEASE NOTE: For help with a missing person go to Wanted/Missing – NYPD (nyc.gov).

A Public Service in Case of Emergency

After a Mass Casualty Incident, Healthix Data Provides Single Point of Contact for Finding Missing Loved Ones

The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in collaboration with Healthix, designed the NYC Emergency Patient Search (NYCEPS) Portal to assist the public in city- and state-wide emergencies. After a mass casualty incident, a key concern is locating and assuring the safety of loved ones who may have been affected and cannot be easily reached or located.

NYCEPS queries real-time patient data through Healthix, particularly information from encounters at acute care hospitals and nursing homes — all with the intention of assisting families find their relatives and loved ones.

“We’re leveraging Healthix data to try to help with family reunification after a mass casualty incident … we can help by searching all of the hospitals to see if this person may have shown up at one of the emergency rooms.”

— Tamer Hadi, Strategic Initiatives Coordinator, Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Having one number and access point where people can call, helps potentially reduce the overwhelming number of phone calls to individual healthcare facilities already overburdened during a crisis.

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