b'INFECTIOUS DISEASE GUIDE|Respond and Recover:The Importance ofEffective Disaster PlanningA disaster preparedness plan is vital to ensuring safetyin an unforeseen emergency By Mark McGrawL earning that your hospitals disaster preparedness plan is inade- responsibilities for providers and suppliers in an effort to ensure ade-quate is not something you want to find out too late.quate planning for both natural and man-made disasters, and coor-The aftermath of a hurricane ripping through your regiondination with federal, state, tribal, regional and local emergency (and your facility) is not the ideal time to discover that your disasterpreparedness systems, according to a CMS statement announcing communication strategy is lacking, staff responsibilities are unclear, orthe revisions.your patient safety protocols are insufficient.For example, these requirements apply to all 17 provider and supplier In fact, the Joint Commission mandates that hospitals have antypes, each of whom must have its own set of emergency preparedness Emergency Operations Plan that details how the facility will respondregulations incorporated into its set of conditions or requirements for and recover in a range of emergencies.certification. Providers must comply with these regulations in order to The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has compelled par- take part in the Medicare or Medicaid program. ticipating providers to do as much since 2016, and revised its emer- These recent updates underscore the need to periodically revisit gency preparedness requirements just last year.your hospitals disaster preparedness plan, which should enable you to In September 2019, CMS published provisions in the Federalmaintain business continuity and safely deliver care in what might be ISTOCKRegister that updated established national emergency preparednessan unpredictable, rapidly changing emergency situation.10 INFECTIOUS DISEASE GUIDE|2020| www.elitecme.com'