MedStar Washington Hospital Center Participates in Tranquil Passport Exercise to Test New Portable Biocontainment Unit and Test Hospital Ability to Treat Highly Infectious Patients

Lessons learned will inform future exercises and real-world responses.

WASHINGTON – MedStar Washington Hospital Center, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)-designated Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC), is participating in the Tranquil Passport exercise this week. The four-day, large-scale patient movement exercise involves more than 50 federal, state, and local partners to test HHS’ new Portable Biocontainment Unit (PBCU) and test the existing plans, processes, procedures, and capabilities to move fictional U.S. citizens affected by highly infectious disease safely and securely from Canada to U.S. regional treatment centers, including MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

MedStar Washington Hospital Center is one of 13 RESPTC sites across the country. In 2023, MedStar Health opened the hospital’s state-of-the-art Biocontainment Unit (BCU), a 6,800-square-foot space with 15 beds, to care for patients with highly contagious infectious diseases. When not in use for biocontainment, the space is used for patients who require short-term evaluation and treatment, to determine whether they need inpatient admission or can be safely discharged.

Tranquil Passport starts on Tuesday, June 24, with government officials facilitating a series of coordination calls to plan the movement of American patients with high-consequence infectious disease (HCID) from Toronto, Canada to the U.S.

On Wednesday, June 25, MedStar Washington Hospital Center is the lead for clinical care during the exercise. It is providing experienced clinicians to staff the PBCU. The team will fly to Toronto and will bring fictional HCID adult and pediatric patients back to Dulles International Airport. From Dulles, the patients will be moved to RESPTC facilities, including MedStar Washington. One of the fictional patients, a woman in her third trimester of pregnancy, will board a MedSTAR Transport ambulance and will head to MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Once on-site, MedStar Washington’s RESPTC teams will respond to her arrival and provide treatment inside the hospital’s Biocontainment Unit.

"The PBCU and Tranquil Passport exercise reflect our shared commitment to strengthening national health security and resilience through innovation and collaboration," said Shane Kappler, MD, medical director of the Biocontainment Unit at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “We are proud to help lead this effort alongside our partners, including fellow national healthcare leaders. In a world where health security threats are ever-present, the PBCU is a vital part of our national preparedness strategy, ensuring we are ready now and for the challenges ahead.”

“Testing our new biocontainment unit makes America safer and increases our national security,” said HHS Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response John Knox. “This cutting-edge technology makes it possible to more quickly and safely move patients to local treatment centers in the U.S. for definitive care, while providing containment of the fictional highly infectious disease from spreading to the American public. This type of exercise is necessary to test our healthcare delivery systems to respond to save lives.”

The exercise will resume on June 26 and 27 across regional treatment centers in New York City, Chapel Hill, NC, and will end in Atlanta, GA.

Photos will be available to download after the exercise concludes at MedStar Washington Hospital Center on June 25. Visit here: https://spaces.hightail.com/space/D702nEoaE3