A Practical Guide for STAND Award Recipients

More than 50 hospitals across 28 states and U.S. territories were selected to receive the NSPS Special Pathogen Treatment and Network Development (STAND) Award, funded by the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR).

The award provides up to $500,000 per facility to support infrastructure enhancements, advanced workforce training and specialized equipment to meet National Special Pathogen System (NSPS) Level 2 Special Pathogen Treatment Center (SPTC) standards. Recipients have until the end of June 2026 to put those funds to work.

If expanding isolation capacity is part of your path to Level 2 certification, this guide is designed to help you think strategically about your options.

About the NSPS STAND Award

By participating in the STAND Award program, facilities benefit from:

• Strengthening institutional and regional preparedness and readiness
• Gaining national visibility as a special pathogen leader
• Accessing NETEC training, consultation and technical support
• Becoming part of a Community of Practice with other national leaders in high-consequence infectious disease (HCID) response

Award recipients have been encouraged to leverage their funding to strengthen:

• Standards and guidance
• Workforce and training
• Patient care delivery
• Communication and coordination
• Monitoring and evaluation

With the number of hospitals and states represented in this award selection, the program emphasizes the effort to reinforce regional and national health security.

The Gap the STAND Award Is Designed to Close

The NSPS framework is built around a tiered system where facilities at every level have a defined role. Level 3 and Level 4 facilities can identify, isolate and stabilize suspect HCID cases, but they are not equipped to provide care for the full duration of illness. When a patient meets criteria for transfer, that call goes up the chain.

But the reality is that a suspect HCID patient doesn’t always enter the system through a facility that knows where to send them. They may walk into an urgent care clinic, a rural emergency department, a primary care office or a community hospital with no special pathogen protocol at all. As a STAND Award recipient working toward Level 2 certification, you need to be ready to receive that patient regardless of where the call originates.

The physical infrastructure requirement is where most facilities in this program face their heaviest lift. Level 2 certification requires appropriate isolation space capable of supporting at least 1-2 VHF HCID patients with critical illness. For facilities currently operating closer to Level 3 or Level 4 on the NSPS framework, closing that gap without a major construction project is one of the most pressing challenges the STAND Award is designed to address.

That means your preparedness has to match the moment a transfer arrives, not just the moment you finish building. Fixed negative-pressure rooms are a worthwhile long-term investment, but they have a fundamental limitation: they stay where they were built.

A patient arriving through your emergency department, presenting in an inpatient unit or transferred under urgent conditions doesn’t always arrive at the door of your designated isolation room. Your response capability needs to meet that patient wherever they are.

The better framing isn’t “isolate the patient.” It’s “isolate the pathogen.”

Meeting the Infrastructure Standard with Portable Isolation

The Carecube ISTARI is an FDA 510(k)-cleared isolation unit that can be deployed in 20 minutes. Rather than requiring the patient to come to your isolation infrastructure, the Carecube goes to where the pathogen is. It has been independently tested by Intertek, Mesa 3, Nelson Labs and DDL.

For STAND Award recipients, the Carecube can directly support the Level 2 physical infrastructure requirement, providing certified isolation capacity for HCID patients without construction, without a capital project and without waiting on contractors.

Protecting Your Workforce as You Build Toward Level 2

Your Special Pathogen Response Team trains rigorously on donning and doffing, PPE protocols, VHF workflows and waste management. That training represents a significant institutional investment, and protecting the staff who carry it is essential.

By containing the pathogen at the source rather than establishing a zone around it, the Carecube is designed to integrate directly into your existing special pathogen workflows. It reduces the PPE burden on clinical staff during patient interactions, supports safer contact and helps reinforce the infection control discipline your team has already built. NETEC and the broader NSPS ecosystem continue to raise the standard for healthcare worker safety in HCID response. Portable isolation is increasingly part of how leading facilities are meeting that standard.

How Carecubes Fit into Your STAND Plan

For STAND Award recipients building toward Level 2, here is how the Carecube maps to your certification priorities:

• Immediate activation capability. When the call comes, you may have limited lead time. The Carecube can be deployed in under 20 minutes in virtually any clinical space, including an ED bay, an inpatient unit or a temporary surge area, so your response is not constrained by where your fixed infrastructure sits.
• Infrastructure enhancement without construction. STAND funds are eligible for equipment that strengthens preparedness. The Carecube expands your certified isolation capacity now, while longer-term infrastructure investments are still being planned or built.
• Workforce protection and training integration. The Carecube is designed to work within established special pathogen protocols, not around them. It supports your team’s existing donning and doffing workflows, reduces unnecessary PPE exposure and creates a contained environment that makes safe patient interaction more manageable.
• A foundation that grows with your program. As you move toward full Level 2 certification, your protocols, staffing and physical infrastructure will continue to develop. The Carecube adds value at every stage of that journey, giving you deployable, certified isolation capacity that moves with your program rather than waiting for it.

How to Evaluate Any Portable Isolation Solution

When assessing whether a portable isolation unit is a smart use of your STAND funding, these are the right questions to ask:

• Is it FDA 510(k)-cleared for clinical use?
• Can it be deployed quickly without specialized setup crews?
• Is it reusable across multiple incidents and patient types?
• Does it integrate with existing special pathogen workflows and PPE protocols?
• Does it create a clear, auditable record for preparedness spending?

The Carecube is designed to answer yes to all of them.

The June 2026 Deadline Is Closer Than It Looks

Hospital procurement cycles are long. If Carecubes are part of your STAND plan, the time to evaluate, demo and initiate purchasing is now, not in the spring.

Our team is ready to walk you through technical specifications, deployment scenarios and purchasing timelines that fit your award plan. Connect with us today to get started. If you’d like to see the Carecube in action first, book a demo and we’ll come to you.