Florida nursing homes now must make provisions for emergency power under a recently enacted law, according to WPTV. The law was enacted after 12 patients at a Hollywood Hills, Fla., rehabilitation center died as a result of extreme heat in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in August and September 2017. The state has nearly 700 nursing homes and 3,100 assisted living facilities.
The industry is playing catch up with the new rules and Lori Berman, a Lake Worth/Delray state senator is frustrated.
“The law said June 1, and it said on June 1 they are going to have these comprehensive emergency plans on the website of AHCA,” says Berman, referring to the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration. “If you go to the ACHA site, there are very few plans. I don’t know of any right now.”
ACHA rules require nursing homes to have “a sufficient alternative power source such as a generator” that can run “a minimum of 96 hours (four days)” with air temperature that “shall not exceed 81 degrees.”
This Quick Read was submitted by Cathryn Jakicic, Healthcare Industries Editor, FacilitiesNet. For more about hospital campuses and other medical facilities, visit https://www.facilitiesnet.com/healthcarefacilities.
