Alternate care site

An alternate care site (ACS) is a medical treatment facility established in a non-traditional setting during a public-health crisis (or other event causing strain on local medical resources) as a means of providing additional capacity to deliver medical care within a given area.^: 1 The term encompasses both civilian-operated medical facilities established in non-traditional places such as hotels, gymnasiums, and convention centers, or other "structure[s] of opportunity," as well as military field medical units being used for public-health purposes.^: 2 Usually, the option of establishing an ACS becomes relevant once the scale of an emergency extends beyond a single metropolitan area.^: 4 Though commonly established (or, at a minimum, overseen) by public-health authorities, ACSes can also be established by private entities, such as large employers.^: 7 ACSes have been widely used as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in other recent crises such as the Western African Ebola virus epidemic.