Having discovered seriously outdated generators in Los Angeles County hospitals, Eric Cote helped the LA County EMS Agency develop new protocols to address this risk. He hasn’t stopped there. Cote is developing a comprehensive awareness campaign to raise the alarm about the threats posed by seriously outdated generators in the nation’s hospitals and long term care facilities. The campaign will be anchored by a national stakeholder meeting that will bring together government officials, code experts and onsite power industry leaders to address this critical question; “How old is too old when it comes to hospital and long term care facility generators?”
Robert Solomon, a former NFPA Director, will help facilitate the stakeholder meeting. Solomon is a longtime supporter of P4P and was a key participant in P4P’s initial 2014 stakeholder meeting. While at the NFPA, he led the team responsible for updates to NFPA 99, NFPA 101 and NFPA 110. The stakeholder meeting will give emergency power industry experts the opportunity to help federal and state officials, and healthcare industry leaders, understand the risks associated with outdated generators and discuss mitigation strategies to minimize this threat. These strategies include:
- Modernizing generator fleets
- Assessing the role of new backup power technology options such as energy storage systems (ESS), and health care microgrids
- Potentially updating NFPA codes, and/or updating the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule
Cote has briefed senior officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the HHS Office of Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) about the risks associated with older generators, drawing serious concern based on the LA County EMS Agency study. CMS is the agency that authored the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule, the federal requirement governing hospital and LTC emergency power systems. ASPR is responsible for overseeing readiness in the health care sector. It also oversees the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP), which provides over $300 million annually to states to support preparedness planning by hospitals and other members of local health care coalitions.