Texas Administrative Code › Title 26 - HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › Part 1 - HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION › Chapter 553 - LICENSING STANDARDS FOR ASSISTED LIVING FACILITIES › Subchapter E - STANDARDS FOR LICENSURE › Section 553.275 - Emergency Preparedness and Response

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Definitions. The following words and
				  terms, when used in this section, have the following meanings, unless the
				  context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1)
				  Designated emergency contact--A person that a resident, or a resident's legally
				  authorized representative, identifies in writing for the facility to contact in
				  the event of a disaster or emergency.
(2) Disaster or emergency--An impending,
				  emerging, or current situation that:
(A)
				  interferes with normal activities of a facility and its residents;
(B) may:
(i)
				  cause injury or death to a resident or staff member of the facility;
				  or
(ii) cause damage to facility
				  property;
(C) requires
				  the facility to respond immediately to mitigate or avoid the injury, death,
				  damage, or interference; and
(D)
				  except as it relates to an epidemic or pandemic, or to the extent it is
				  incident to another disaster or emergency, does not include a situation that
				  arises from the medical condition of a resident, such as cardiac arrest,
				  obstructed airway, or cerebrovascular accident.
(3) Emergency management coordinator
				  (EMC)--The person who is appointed by the local mayor or county judge to plan,
				  coordinate, and implement public health emergency preparedness planning and
				  response within the local jurisdiction.
(4) Emergency preparedness coordinator
				  (EPC)--The facility staff person with the responsibility and authority to
				  direct, control, and manage the facility's response to a disaster or
				  emergency.
(5) Evacuation
				  summary--A current summary of the facility's emergency preparedness and
				  response plan that includes:
(A) the name,
				  address, and contact information for each receiving facility or pre-arranged
				  evacuation destination identified by the facility under subsection (g)(3)(B) of
				  this section;
(B) the procedure for
				  safely transporting residents and any other individuals evacuating a
				  facility;
(C) the name or title,
				  and contact information, of the facility staff member to contact for evacuation
				  information;
(D) the facility's
				  primary mode of communication to be used during a disaster or emergency and the
				  facility's supplemental or alternate mode of communication;
(E) the facility's procedure for notifying
				  persons referenced in subsection (g)(5) of this section as soon as practicable
				  about facility actions affecting residents during a disaster or emergency,
				  including an impending or actual evacuation, and for maintaining ongoing
				  communication with them for the duration of the disaster, emergency, or
				  evacuation;
(F) a statement about
				  training that is available to a resident, the resident's legally authorized
				  representative, and each designated emergency contact for the resident, on
				  procedures under the facility's plan that involve or impact each of them,
				  respectively; and
(G) the
				  facility's procedures for when a resident evacuates with a person other than a
				  facility staff member.
(6) Plan--A facility's emergency preparedness
				  and response plan.
(7) Receiving
				  facility--A separate licensed assisted living facility:
(A) from which a facility has documented
				  acknowledgement, from an identified authorized representative, as described in
				  subsection (i)(2)(C) of this section; and
(B) to which the facility has arranged in
				  advance of a disaster or emergency to evacuate some or all of a facility's
				  residents, on a temporary basis due to a disaster or emergency, if, at the time
				  of evacuation:
(i) the receiving facility can
				  safely receive and accommodate the residents; and
(ii) the receiving facility has any necessary
				  licensure or emergency authorization required to do so.
(8) Risk assessment--The process
				  of evaluating, documenting, and examining potential disasters or emergencies
				  that pose the highest risk to a facility, and their foreseeable impacts, based
				  on the facility's geographical location, structural conditions, resident needs
				  and characteristics, and other influencing factors, in order to develop an
				  effective emergency preparedness and response plan.