The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized rules to establish consistent emergency preparedness requirements for 17 types of health care providers participating in Medicare and Medicaid. The purpose of these rules are to increase patient safety during emergencies, and establish a more coordinated response to natural and man-made disasters. These rules require certain participating providers and suppliers to plan for disasters and coordinate with federal, state, tribal, regional, and local emergency preparedness systems to ensure that facilities are adequately prepared to meet the needs of their patients during disasters and emergency situations. The implementation date for these rules is November 16, 2017.
CMS encourages the covered healthcare providers to engage with their local Healthcare Coalition (HCC) to achieve greater organizational and community effectiveness and financial sustainability through a more inclusive preparedness community. The HCCs function as an accessible source of preparedness and response best practices as newly engaged provider types adapt to the new requirements.
The full copy of the finalized CMS rules can be downloaded from the attachments shown below.