La. Admin. Code tit. 48 § I-9335

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024

Section I-9335 - Emergency Preparedness

A. The hospital shall have an emergency preparedness plan designed to manage the consequences of natural disasters or other emergencies that disrupt the hospital's ability to provide care and treatment or threatens the lives or safety of the hospital patients and/or the community it serves. The emergency preparedness plan shall be made available, upon request or if mandated to do so, to local, parish, regional and/or state emergency planning organizations, DHH and the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

B. As a minimum, the plan shall include the following:

1. identification of potential hazards that could necessitate an evacuation, including internal and external disasters such as a natural disaster, acts of bio-terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, labor work stoppage, or industrial or nuclear accidents;

2. emergency procedures for evacuation of the hospital;

3. comprehensive measures for receiving and managing care for a large influx of emergency patients. At a minimum, these measures shall include the following roles:

a. the emergency department/s ervices;

b. surgical suite; and

c. patient care units;

4. comprehensive plans for receiving patients who are being relocated from another facility due to a disaster. This plan shall include at least an estimate of the number and type of patients the facility would accommodate;

5. procedures in the case of interruption of utility services in a way that affects the health and safety of patients;

6. identification of the facility and an alternate facility to which evacuated patients would be relocated;

7. the estimated number of patients and staff that would require relocation in the event of an evacuation;

8. the system or procedure to ensure that medical charts accompany patients in the event of a patient evacuation and that supplies, equipment, records and medications would be transported as part of an evacuation; and

9. the roles and responsibilities of staff members in implementing the disaster plan.

C. The hospital shall assure that patients receive nursing care throughout the period of evacuation and while being returned to the original hospital.

D. The hospital shall ensure that evacuated patients, who are not discharged, are returned to the hospital after the emergency is over, unless the patient prefers to remain at the receiving facility or be discharged instead of being returned to the original hospital.

E. Any staff member who is designated as the acting administrator shall be knowledgeable about, and authorized to implement the hospital's plans in the event of an emergency.

F. The hospital administrator shall appoint an individual who shall be responsible for disaster planning for the hospital.

G. While developing the hospital's plan for evacuating patients, the disaster planner shall communicate with the facility or facilities designated to receive relocated patients.

H. The hospital shall conduct at least one evacuation drill each year, either simulated or using selected patients. An actual evacuation shall be considered a drill, if it is documented.

I. The hospital shall conduct at least one drill each year, in which a large influx of emergency patients is simulated. An actual emergency of this type shall be considered a drill, if it is documented.

J. In case of an emergency, the hospital shall have a policy for supply of food and water.

K. The hospital shall have a policy for the provision of emergency sources of critical utilities such as electricity, natural gas, water and fuel during any period in which the normal supply is temporarily disrupted.

L. The hospital's plan shall be developed in coordination with the local/parish office of emergency preparedness, utilizing community wide resources.

M. A hospital may temporarily exceed its licensed capacity in emergency situations, such as natural disasters or disease related emergencies. Such hospitals shall notify DHH in writing of the situation within 24 hours or as soon as practical thereafter.

N. Effective immediately, upon declaration of the secretary and notification to the Louisiana Hospital Association, all hospitals licensed in Louisiana shall file an electronic report with the EMSystem, or a successor operating system during a declared emergency, disaster or public health emergency.

1. The electronic report shall be filed twice daily at 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. throughout the duration of the disaster or emergency event.

2. The electronic report shall include, but not be limited to the following:

a. status of operation (open, limited or closed);

b. availability of beds by category (medical/surgery, intensive care unit, pediatric, psychiatric, etc.);

c. other resources that may be needed by a hospital in an emergency (blood products, fuel, pharmaceuticals, personnel, etc.);

d. generator status;

e. evacuation status; and

f. shelter in place status.

La. Admin. Code tit. 48, § I-9335

Promulgated by the Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of the Secretary, Bureau of Health Services Financing, LR 21:177 (February 1995), amended LR 29:2409 (November 2003), LR 35:245 (February 2009).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 40:2100-2115.