Emergency Preparedness Plan and Continuity of Patient Care

Sets out the Agency’s emergency preparedness plan, required of every California home health agency as a plan "designed to provide continuing care/service in the event of an emergency that would result in the interruption of patient care services" (22 CCR §74721(c)(8)), and, if the Agency is Medicare-certified, the full emergency preparedness program in 42 CFR §484.102: an all-hazards risk assessment for the counties served (earthquake, wildfire and smoke, Public Safety Power Shutoffs, extreme heat, flood, pandemic, and loss of systems), an individual emergency plan for each patient, patient priority levels, informing officials about patients who need evacuation, following up with staff and patients, the communication plan, records, continuity of operations, training at least every two years, exercises to test the plan at least annually (a full-scale or functional exercise and an additional exercise in alternate years), and review of the program at least every two years.