Home Health & Hospice Week
Finalize Your Emergency Prep Plan Before The Holidays
Don’t forget to address terrorism, cyber-attacks.
Check out your new emergency planning requirements in a final rule published in the Sept. 16 Federal Register. In the rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services lays out four core areas required in providers’ emergency plans: (1) risk assessment and emergency planning; (2) policies and procedures; (3) communication plan; and (4) training and testing.
The rule “will require home health agencies (HHAs) to develop and maintain emergency preparedness plans,” CMS notes. “Each HHA also will be required to review and update the plan at least annually.”
Plans should address “the threats that pose the greatest risk to the security of the nation, including acts of terrorism, cyber-attacks, pandemics, and catastrophic natural disasters,” the rule says.
See the rule, which takes effect Nov. 15, at www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-09-16/pdf/2016-21404.pdf. The rule contains links to many emergencyplanning resources.
Home Health & Hospice Week
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