Background: The evening news reports that San Francisco hospitals are experiencing an abnormal influx of patients with flu-like symptoms, shortness of breath and chest discomfort. Soon thereafter one person dies and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) makes a preliminary diagnosis of bacillus anthracis (anthrax) exposure. Hospitals throughout the country are advised to validate their preparedness plans. Twenty-four hours later, the national news announces that the city is the victim of bioterrorism.

• Hospital emergency departments are quickly overwhelmed with panicked people who believe they are infected. Facilities scramble to locate experts who can advise them how to quickly differentiate anthrax exposure from cold or flu symptoms.
• Bay Area hospitals move to activate their paper-based ICS, but outdated chain of command and contact information slows notification.
• Emergency Coordinators from affected hospitals make repeated calls to the same hospitals hunting for available beds, isolation facilities, respirators and supplies, delaying the arrival of equipment and degrading patient care.

• Immediately following confirmation of the attack, a comparison of the HVAs across Bay Area hospitals is made using LiveProcess. This allows for quickly pinpointing which facilities are best prepared to handle an anthrax outbreak. The anthrax-specific disaster plans from the best prepared facilities are shared with the lesser prepared hospitals and the protocols executed.
• An anthrax expert is located in New York. He logs into LiveProcess' Community discussion forum from his office and is immediately available to answer questions on identification and treatment protocols for the disease.
• Each facility activates the LiveProcess ICS and command personnel are automatically notified.
• Emergency Coordinators access the available Beds & Inventory and Resource Management components in LiveProcess to identify which facilities have room for patients and available equipment. Hospitals outside the affected areas are able to provide the necessary supplies without fielding repeated calls for the same items.
• LiveProcess Event Logging allows each hospital to provide a record of events as they occur, allowing the CDC and state department of health to track events and provide the public with information.
• LiveProcess helps the hospitals contain the affects of the anthrax attack, contributing to a higher quality of patient care and calming an anxious public.