Are You Ready for a Disaster?
How to comply with CMS's Emergency Preparedness Rule.
Y
ou have until
Nov. 16 to
comply with
CMS's Emergency
Preparedness Rule
(osmag.net/maFP9Y),
which mandates that
you have policies
and procedures in
place for how your
staff will react to
natural and man-made disasters, and how your facility will work with
federal, state and local authorities to coordinate community-wide
responses to such large-scale emergency events as pandemic flu —
H1N1 influenza virus, for example — hurricanes, tornados, fires,
earthquakes, power outages, chemical spills, and nuclear or biological
terrorist attacks. Don't worry. You can show Medicare surveyors that
you're ready to handle whatever Mother Nature and mankind throw at
you by taking this crash course in crisis management.
Develop an "all hazards" response plan. Your plan should out-
line how you'll deal with direct emergencies that impact your
facility, such as an active shooter, and indirect emergencies that
impact your entire community, such as a bioterrorism event.
Consider internal and exter-
nal emergency scenarios from
a generic viewpoint and then
drill down to specific line-
1
3 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7
Safety
Leslie Mattson, RN, BSHM, LNC
CMS's Emergency Preparedness Rule
osmag.net/maFP9Y
• LESSONS LEARNED The devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated
the importance of having a plan in place when disaster strikes.
AP
Photo/Bill
Haber