Table 1.

Metrics to Assess Agency Preparedness Using the Ready/Willing/Able Framework

	Ready	Willing	Able
Definitions12	Availability of a public health agency—and the individuals who work in the agency—for prompt action, service, or duty to respond with appropriate resources to a public health emergency	The state of being inclined or favorably predisposed, individually or collectively as an agency, toward a public health emergency	The actual operational power (ie, skill, expertise, knowledge) of an organization or individual to perform response-related tasks during a public health emergency
Potential metrics to assess framework components	Organizational: Roster of staff with skills/expertise appropriate for emergency response (yes/no) Established rapid response team program that supports training, ongoing preparedness, etc of staff who could serve in response roles (yes/no) Time to identify staff with necessary skills/expertise and assign them to emergency response roles Established emergency operations center (yes/no) Time to activate emergency operations center Number of response partners with whom data-sharing systems have been established/exercised Established incident management system (yes/no) Time to activate incident management system Individual: Number/percent of staff with specific skills/expertise available to serve in appropriate response role Number/percent of staff with necessary skills/experience who can be deployed in timely manner	Organizational: Number of response partners with pre-established mutual aid agreements that support sharing of supplies and resources Number of response partners with pre-established data use agreements that support information sharing Individual: Number/percent of staff who report willingness to participate in future events (not event-specific) Number/percent of staff who report willingness to participate in future events (during current, ongoing event) Number/percent of staff who have served in a response role in past events Number/percent of staff serving in a response role in current, ongoing event Number/percent of staff willing to participate in specific types of events (ie, natural disasters, infectious disease, nuclear radiological events) Qualitative themes in risk and protective factors that have potential effect on future willingness to participate (reported by responders during or after an event)	Organizational: Database that inventories response-related competencies, skills, and experience of agency staff (yes/no) Number and types of response training available/offered to staff Individual: Number/percent of staff with specific core competencies and skills relevant to response work Number of response training sessions completed annually Number/percent of staff who have completed response training Number/percent of staff serving in a response role who have completed response training Qualitative themes in applying skills/knowledge learned from training to response work Number/percent of first-time responders participating in an event Number/percent of responders with specific competencies or who are compliant with training requirements at the start of a new event