Nancy J. Beckley (nancy@nancybeckley.com) is President of Nancy Beckley & Associates LLC, a rehab compliance consulting firm in Milwaukee, WI.
Is it June already? Already we have been through an incredible rolling healthcare crisis that will likely continue to ripple through the summer, into the fall, and as it snows here in Wisconsin. Hospitals, nursing facilities, rehabilitation facilities, and those providing home health and hospice in post-acute care alike have experienced the testing of their infection control policies and procedures, as well as their emergency preparedness plans, risk assessments, and general policies and procedures. We thought we learned a lot in 2017 when a nursing home left patients to deteriorate in the 99-degree sweltering heat of South Florida during Hurricane Irma—causing 12 of the patients to die—due to the lack of power generators for air-conditioning—with a hospital located right across the street. But did we? Maybe we thought such things only happened during a hurricane.
