HHS emPOWER Map
Why the HHS emPOWER Map is Needed
Over 3 million Medicare beneficiaries rely on electricity-dependent durable medical and assistive equipment and devices, such as ventilators, to live independently in their homes. Severe weather and other emergencies, especially those with prolonged power outages, can be life-threatening for these individuals. The HHS emPOWER Map, launched in 2015, provides a geospatial view of this critical de-identified data, down to the ZIP Code. This information helps communities to better anticipate, plan for, and address the potential needs of electricity-dependent at-risk individuals who may rapidly need assistance in the event of an incident, emergency, or disaster.
Who can access the HHS emPOWER Map
The HHS emPOWER Map is a publicly available interactive map that anyone can access and use. Detailed instructions on how to access and use the map are included in the HHS emPOWER Map Job Aid available in the Resources box on this page.
What the HHS emPOWER Map Offers
The HHS emPOWER Map provides a monthly updated de-identified total at the national, state, territory, county, and ZIP Code levels for Medicare beneficiaries that are currently enrolled in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service Medicare Fee-For-Service (Parts A/B) or Medicare Advantage (Part C). The map also provides a monthly updated total for the number of Medicare beneficiaries who have had an administrative claim for one or more types of electricity-dependent durable medical and assistive equipment (DME) and devices, as well as at-risk combinations data for those who rely on a certain essential health care service(s) and any electricity-dependent DME and devices. The map also features different base map options and near-real time natural hazard data that includes but is not limited to: severe weather, hurricanes, flooding, wildfire and earthquakes. Users also have the ability to create unique aggregations by geography and export the data, as well as the ability to access historical HHS emPOWER Map datasets for further analysis. To learn more about the data provided by the HHS emPOWER Map, access the HHS emPOWER Quick Data Reference Guide in the Resources box on this page.
How the HHS emPOWER Map is Making an Impact
The HHS emPOWER Map gives every public health official, emergency manager, healthcare coalition and provider, first responder, electric company, and community members across the nation the power to discover the electricity-dependent Medicare population total in their state, territory, county, and ZIP Code. When combined with real-time severe weather and hazard maps, communities can easily anticipate, plan for, and address the needs of this population prior to, during, and after an emergency. For example, communities leverage the HHS emPOWER Map to help inform decision making regarding optimal shelter locations and resource allocation, evacuation assistance needs and power restoration prioritization following an incident, emergency or disaster.
Learn more about the HHS emPOWER Map and available historical map datasets by accessing the materials in the Resources and Historical Dataset boxes on this page.
