A DMAT or Disaster Medical Assistance Team is an asset of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) under the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). There are over 60 national DMAT teams that are placed on an on-call rotation schedule 3-4 times a year.
DMATs teams are federal resources comprised of 150 medical professionals and support personnel with the ability to rapidly deploy to the disaster area. A 35-50 member team contingency is deployed for a two‐week period usually for national events. However, under certain circumstances such as the catestrophic earthquake in Haiti, DMATs may be deployed internationally. Teams usually have 12 ‐ 24 hours notice to mobilize personnel and equipment for transportation to a staging area or directly to the theater of operations. Teams must be prepared to be self sufficient and work in austere conditions without further impacting the community in need. DMATs may be also pre-scheduled for events such as the Olympics, and in these cases, are given more advanced notice of deployment.
When deployed, team members become paid employees of HHS which facilitates federalization of all professional licenses, federal worker’s compensation coverage, and federal liability coverage. Compensation is based on federal employee regional rates, depending on the member’s position classification on the team. All transportation, food, clothing and lodging are provided during the deployment. Members usually are deployed from the airport closest to their home via commercial airline. In some cases transportation may be provided by the military .
Members who participate in authorized deployments and training are covered by USERRA, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, the same law that covers military service personnel. Please note that prior to being appointed the DMAT candidate must successfully complete a federal back-ground check.DMA
