Emergency Preparedness Regulations

Course overview

Emergency preparedness requirements that healthcare organizations have historically been required to follow were deemed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) to be insufficient for emergency preparedness and response. Given this, CMS set out to develop new requirements for healthcare providers that establish a comprehensive, consistent, flexible, and dynamic regulatory approach to emergency preparedness and response. The emergency preparedness requirements set forth by CMS have put in place suppliers and providers to meet the emerging changes in disasters and preparedness throughout the entire nation. With implementation of the Emergency Preparedness Rule finalized by CMS, healthcare providers are now faced with a new challenge of developing, executing, and demonstrating emergency preparedness requirements that comply with this new rule. This course introduces learners to leading emergency preparedness practices intended to safeguard human resources, maintain business continuity, and protect physical resources, with the desired end-state of achieving CMS rule compliance. The ultimate aim is achieving compliance, along with becoming a more resilient organization with more resilient emergency management practices. This course assists learners on how to successfully address key rule components, including the risk assessment and emergency plan, policies and procedures, the communications plan, training and testing, and emergency fuel and generator testing. The goal of this course is to educate administrators and nurses about the key elements for an effective risk assessment. This course is not a comprehensive overview of the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule, and learners are expected to be fully apprised of this rule prior to taking this course.