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There is little academic documentation of regional hospital planning in preparation for mass gathering events and national political conventions. As the lead planning group for the local medical branch during the 2008 Democratic National Convention (DNC), the Denver Health Paramedic Division brought together twenty six hospitals within the region to develop an operational plan to ensure an effective response in the event that hospital resources were strained or overwhelmed during the 2008 DNC. The effectiveness and long-term impact of hospital planning for the DNC was assessed by analyzing bed availability data gathered during the event and from a post-event survey of participating hospitals. Survey results indicate that overall hospital emergency preparedness improved significantly because of planning for the DNC and bed availability analysis indicates that there was a significantly greater amount of surge capacity available during the DNC than previously documented. Planning for future national political conventions will benefit from the early development of relationships between hospitals and the establishment of baseline bed availability data to aid in surge capacity planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]