Several bills have been filed in Texas to address problems that led to days-long power outages across Texas. The power outages led dozens of senior living facilities to evacuate residents during the winter storm since no heat or electricity was available at the facilities.
A state representative filed House Bill 2325 that requires nursing and assisted living facilities to have a generator or other comparable backup power supply on-site in preparation for future weather events or blackouts. The state’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman supports the bill, noting that 56 assisted living facilities were forced to evacuate their residents, while nine assisted living facilities had backup power supplies that allowed them to stay in place. Furthermore, some of the assisted living residents had to go to homeless shelters that served as their evacuation sites. There are over 2,000 assisted living facilities in Texas.
In addition, the Texas Ombudsman data shows that 27 skilled nursing facilities evacuated residents, while 176 relied on generators to keep their power on. There are more than 1,220 nursing facilities registered in Texas.
Some industry leaders and nursing home operators in Texas have testified against the bill, citing the cost of the generators as the primary concern. A healthcare company in Texas estimates that the generators required by this bill would cost between $200,000 to $500,000 per facility. Additionally, rewiring of older facilities to meet the proposed requirements would result in additional costs, while disrupting lives of thousands of residents.
An administrator at a skilled nursing facility in Round Rock Texas expressed her concerns about the impact the heavy costs required in the bill would have on facilities. The administrator offered several alternative solutions, including:
- Have the bill only apply to skilled nursing facilities with building permits issued after August 31, 2023
- Change the language in the bill to require only selected areas or rooms in the facility to meet this requirement
- Require 24 to 48 hours’ worth of fuel to be stored on-site, instead of 72 due to limitations on fuel storage at many facilities
- Require these changes be funded by the state, instead of added to the Medicaid cost report.
Maryland and Florida already have similar laws in effect. In 2018, Florida passed a law requiring all facilities to have generators after hurricane Irma in 2017. Hurricane Irma caused over 430 residents’ deaths, including some who died in sweltering temperatures after the storm knocked out their facilities’ air conditioning.
Issue:
The time to review your emergency preparedness plan is now and not during an emergency. If an emergency does happen in your facility, it is critical that all are prepared and ready to take appropriate action. A satisfactory emergency preparedness plan can really mean the difference between life and death of residents and staff.
Discussion Points:
- Review your Emergency Preparedness Plan. Compare your plan to requirements from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Emergency Preparedness Actions, Appendix Z at State Operations Manual Appendix Z- Emergency Preparedness for All Provider and Certified Supplier Types Interpretive Guidance | Technical Resources | ASPR TRACIE (hhs.gov). Update your Emergency Preparedness Plan as needed.
- Train all staff on the Emergency Preparedness Plan. Conduct drills for the various disaster response plans to ensure staff competency with each. Document that these trainings and drills occurred and file the signed documents in each employee’s education file.
- Ensure that every unique potential disaster for your geographic region is addressed in the Emergency Preparedness Plan. Audit staff knowledge to ensure that they are aware of their roles during an emergency per your Plan.
