Many Florida Assisted Living Centers May Not Meet Emergency Power Requirements as Hurricane Season Approaches
More than one year ago, a Florida state law became effective that required nursing homes and assisted living centers to have an Emergency Power Plan in place that included backup generators and sufficient fuel to operate the generators for four days.
Currently, the rules require all facilities to have a plan for obtaining a minimum of 96 hours of fuel should an emergency situation occur. However, facilities do not have to store that much fuel onsite. Nursing homes are required to store at least 72 hours of fuel onsite and the amount that an assisted living facility must store onsite varies according to its licensed capacity. Facilities licensed for 16 or less beds must store 48 hours of fuel onsite, and those with a licensed capacity of 17 or more beds must store 72 hours of fuel onsite.
A news media’s investigative report revealed that although many facilities are compliant with the new state rules requiring the submission of an Emergency Power Plan, many have not yet been approved by the state for implementation and many others have submitted extension requests that are being liberally granted by state officials. This means that as the hurricane season approaches, a number of facilities do not have the equipment in place that is required by the state statutes.
Compliance Perspective
Failure by a facility to meet its state’s requirements for an Emergency Power Plan or to have protocols in place for handling emergency power losses within its Emergency Preparedness Plan may result in the loss of licensure should an emergency occur, and the lives of residents are in jeopardy due to this violation of state and federal regulations.
Discussion Points:
- Review policies and procedures regarding the facility’s response protocols for dealing with emergency power losses.
- Train staff on policies and procedures regarding response to emergency power situations.
- Periodically conduct mock emergency power loss drills to ensure that staff are following appropriate protocols and residents’ safety in such an emergency can be ensured.
