UPDATED - Home Care and Hospice Emergency Response Drill Next Week

The Department of Health (DOH) posted a Dear Administrator Letter (DAL) announcing an upcoming emergency response drill that will begin next week April 25, 2016, through April 29, 2016. All Certified Home Health Agencies, Long Term Home Health Care Programs, Hospices, and Licensed Home Care Services Agencies are required to participate in this drill. According to the DAL, failure to participate will result in a deficiency citation and possible enforcement action.

There are several purposes for this drill:

• Familiarize home care and hospice agencies with communications methods established by Division of Home and Community Based Services (DHCBS) for use during emergencies;
• inform home care and hospice agencies about the information needed by DHCBS before, during and after emergencies;
• familiarize home care and hospice providers with the survey tool used to collect information – the Health Electronic Response Data System (HERDS) Home Care Emergency Response Survey; and
• allow DOH to test these systems and processes before an actual emergency event.

The Transportation Assistance Levels (TALs) status of patients will be collected on the survey - see below for updated information.

As a reminder, the WebEx training on TALs and a demonstration of the HERDS Home Care Emergency Response Survey was conducted earlier this year and a recording is available here. Any questions about this emergency drill or the HERDS Home Care Emergency Response Survey, please send them to HCEmergency@health.ny.gov.

DOH updated this information on Tuesday, April 19th.

• Transportation Assistance Levels (TALs) are not required until June 1, 2016. TALs will not be required for the Emergency Drill however, it is recommended agencies that have their TAL information, report it during the drill.
• LHCSAs that exclusively serve ALP patients only need to enter contact information on the Agency form and check the box indicating that they only serve ALP patients.

The Dear Administrator Letter regarding this drill, the scenario for the drill, and instructions on accessing surveys on the HERDS application of the Health Commerce system are attached.

Contact: Cheryl Udell, cudell@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871