Format: Resident, Exportable

Hospital Incident Command System is an incident command system designed for hospitals and intended for use in both emergency and non-emergency situations. It provides hospitals of all sizes with tools needed to advance their emergency preparedness and response capability—both individually and as members of the broader response community.

HICS is a 2-day course that provides attendees the tools necessary to ensure the safety of patients, personnel, the facility, and ensure business continuity, financial recovery, as well as restoration of “normal” operations. HICS serves as an instructional program, providing the foundation for attendees to teach their respective military hospitals and clinics an Introduction to Hospital Incident Command System. 

Compliance with the National Incident Management System is a condition for any health care organization receiving federal assistance.

• Using ICS concepts and principles enables organizations to meet one component of NIMS compliance and promotes collaborative participation in a larger, national system.
• NIMS promotes a coordinated effort among all primary and secondary response agencies to better prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from events and incidents.

HICS is an exportable course. Please email the course contact for further information.

Courses Pre-Requisites

You can complete these courses online or attend an in-resident course.

• IS-100: Introduction to ICS
• IS-120: An Introduction to Exercises
• IS-200: Basic Incident Command System for Initial Response 
• IS-700: NIMS, An Introduction
• IS-800: National Response Framework, An Introduction

Applying for a course

Please note: Self-Nomination Does Not Mean Automatic Selection! Students who submit a service nomination request form and are not selected must re-submit a nomination form. The nomination forms DO NOT carry over to subsequent courses. The purpose of resubmitting a nomination form is to ensure that students are available for the course dates and the enrollment data matches course selection dates for audit purposes.

Funding: There are currently no registration fees for this course. Funding will be obtained through your unit unless informed otherwise.

Application/Enrollment Instructions:

1. Log onto Joint Knowledge Online (CAC required).
2. Click on Community page.
3. Under MHS Courses by Author, Click DMRTI.
4. Under Links section, click on course hyperlink you wish to attend, complete the form and submit.
5. You will be notified approximately 45 days from the course start day ONLY if you were selected or placed on an alternate list.
6. If you were not selected, you will need to complete another service nomination request for a later course.
7. Service nomination requests will close 60 days prior to the course start date and the link will be disabled.
• You will need to notify your service rep or email DMRTI if you are requesting a service nomination selection after the closing date, or if you have any questions.

Upcoming Courses

Dates	Nomination Due	Location
May 29-30, 2025	March 30, 2025	Joint Base San Antonio, Fort Sam Houston, TX
Aug. 18-19, 2025	June 19, 2025	Henry Jackson Foundation, Bethesda, MD
Feb. 23-24, 2026	Dec. 24, 2025	Bethesda, MD
Aug. 10-11, 2026	June 11, 2026	Bethesda, MD