Risk and Security LLC

A tenth patient from a Florida nursing home that lost power during Hurricane Irma died Wednesday, as state officials suspended the facility’s license.

On Friday, September 22,   the Hollywood Police Department announced the death of another resident,  94-year-old Martha Murray.

The Agency for Health Care Administration (ACHA) said Wednesday it suspended the license of the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, after previously banning the facility from admitting new patients and from receiving Medicaid.

“As more information has come to light on this egregious situation, this facility absolutely cannot continue to have access to patients,” Agency Secretary Justin Senior said in a statement. “This facility failed its residents multiple times throughout this horrifying ordeal.”

The Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation facility was covered in yellow crime scene tape, with highly visible police vehicles.

Convicted embezzler, Dr. Jack Michel, was the owner of the facility where ten seniors died after the generator failed to
function.  The facility has a long list of maintenance problems, lack of care of the patients, and worse.

RISK Alert   ^#924                #HollywoodDeaths        #CMSFinalRule         #nursinghome   

Dateline,   September 14, 2017,  Fort Lauderdale, FL

8 DEAD IN HOLLYWOOD, FL NURSING HOME DISASTER AFTER IRMA.  PATIENTS DIED AFTER
GENERATOR FAILED AND TEMPS REACHED 100 DEGREES.  CRIMINAL CHARGES WILL BE FILED!

The impact of Hurricane Irma on healthcare care organizations in Florida came home yesterday when it was discovered that 8 elderly patients died in a nursing home just north of Miami, in Hollywood, Florida.  Florida Gov. Rick Scott called the situation “unfathomable,” promising to “aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place.”

Hollywood police launched a criminal investigation, and agents from the state attorney general’s office and the state Agency for Health Care Administration were on the scene, authorities said. State officials closed the
facil Wednesday night and barred it from admitting new patients.

“This was a terrible incident. The scene was chaotic when I arrived,” said Dr. Randy Katz, medical director for emergency services at Memorial Healthcare System, where about a dozen of the 158 people who were evacuated from the facility were admitted for respiratory distress, dehydration and heat-related issues.

Katz said so many patients needed assistance that his hospital, which is just down the street, called in more than 50 doctors, nurses and other staffers under a mass casualty protocol.

Fire crews were first called to the Hollywood Hills facility at 3 a.m. ET for a report of a cardiac arrest. More fire and emergency response crews were sent when a second call came in at 4 a.m. for a patient having breathing issues, she said. Three people were found dead on the second floor, and by 6:15 a.m., a full-scale evacuation of the facility was underway.

The new CMS Final Rule on Emergency Preparedness stresses the Dr. Donald Miller, an ER doctor, added, “Nursing home patients are generally more frail than the normal population and we need to have controls in place to guard their safety in a crisis situation, like Hurricane Irma.”

Lessons Learned:

1.  Nursing homes need to be on a first name basis with other providers so they can shift patients to safer
facilities during severe weather emergencies like Irma and Harvey.  The new CMS Final Rule on
Emergency Preparedness spells like the procedures for these emergencies.

2.  The November 15, 2017 Deadline for 17 Healthcare Providers to finish their All-Hazards Facility Risk
Assessments is fast approaching.  Emergency Communication Plans need to be finalized, in addition to
staff training and community drills precisely to PREVENT THESE INCIDENTS IN THE FUTURE.

Write to info@riskandsecurityllc.com for more information on the new CMS
Emergency Preparedness Program, including All Hazards Facility Risk Assessments