Core Function Seven: Health and Medical Needs

Describe the procedures for managing and mobilizing health and medical services during a disaster.

Ensure that your disaster plan considers the following topics.

During and After a Disaster

Consider questions such as:

  1. Will staff be able to reach your facility?
  2. Will staff have to live at your facility during or immediately after the disaster?
  3. Do you have a phone number for a 24-hour nurse available for emergencies?
  4. How will you ensure that your facility continues to have adequate medical supplies? (See also Core Function Eight)
  5. How will staff ensure that food and water is safe to consume?

Health and Medical Considerations for an Evacuation

Consider questions such as:

  1. How will staff know which equipment and supplies to take in an evacuation?
  2. How will staff protect medications that have temperature or security requirements? (You might have to consult your pharmacist.)
  3. How will you ensure that each set of medical records, medications list, and medications stays with the correct resident, individual, or client?
  4. How will you ensure that each resident, individual, or client remains correctly identified throughout an evacuation?
  5. How will your facility ensure physician-to-physician contact to promote continuity of care?
  6. How will you meet the special needs of those who require dialysis, oxygen, and ventilators?
  7. Is there a 24-hour pharmacy phone number for each destination site?
  8. How will you meet the special needs of individuals who have behavior management programs?
  9. How will you maintain the confidentiality of records throughout the evacuation? See the reference to the HIPAA Privacy Decision Tool below.

Disclosures for Emergency Preparedness - A Decision Tool

The Web site of the Office for Civil Rights within the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has posted the following tool: the "HIPAA Privacy Rule: Disclosures for Emergency Preparedness — A Decision Tool." This Web-based, interactive tool helps emergency preparedness and recovery planners determine how to access and use health information about people with disabilities, consistent with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule.

The tool guides emergency preparedness and recovery planners through a series of questions regarding how the privacy rule applies to a particular disclosure. By helping users focus on the source of the information being disclosed, to whom it is being disclosed, and for what purpose, users will better meet the needs of the elderly or persons with disabilities in the event of an evacuation.

The tool is available at https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/emergency-preparedness/disclosure-to-other-person-or-agency/index.html