“After Devastating Hurricanes Like Milton and Helene, Florida Hospitals Have Shown Extraordinary Resilience, But When Facilities Are Forced to Close or Evacuate, Lives Are Put at Risk.”
Legislation Strengthens Emergency Preparedness and Ensures Continuity of Care
WASHINGTON — Today, Congressman Vern Buchanan, Vice Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and Chairman of the Health Subcommittee and Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) introduced the bipartisan Protecting Hospitals from Disaster Act. The legislation aims to help hospitals, clinics and other health care facilities better prepare for extreme weather and natural disasters without compromising patient care and routine services.
The Protecting Hospitals from Disaster Act would expand the role of Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) to provide direct support to health care providers as they prepare for and respond to disasters, including mitigating physical risks to facilities and reducing chronic health risks to patients.
“After devastating hurricanes like Milton and Helene, Florida hospitals have shown extraordinary resilience, but when facilities are forced to close or evacuate, lives are put at risk,” said Buchanan. “Our health care system must be prepared—providers should never have to choose between storm readiness and caring for patients. As Chairman of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, I’m committed to strengthening the Medicare program through Quality Improvement Organizations that support providers before, during and after disasters. I’m proud to introduce the Protecting Hospitals from Disaster Act with Congressman Don Beyer to help hospitals stay operational, protect vulnerable patients and ensure continuity of care when it matters most.”
“While health care facilities and the professionals who staff them regularly demonstrate remarkable resilience amid increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters, many face impossible choices between preparing and responding to severe weather and keeping up day-to-day operations,” said Beyer. “Thankfully, Congress has already established pathways through QIOs to help providers avoid choosing between delivering today’s care and improving tomorrow’s. Our Protecting Hospitals from Disaster Act would explicitly task QIOs with helping providers prepare for and respond to disasters, while giving them the resources they need to deliver high-quality care even in the most extreme circumstances.”
As natural disasters grow more frequent and severe, health care providers increasingly face the difficult task of maintaining day-to-day operations while preparing for emergencies. Between 2000 and 2017, there were 114 disaster-related hospital evacuations nationwide, with more than half requiring the evacuation of over 100 patients.
Medicare providers and hospitals may not have the resources and technical knowledge to address the dual challenges of responding to severe weather while maintaining day-to-day operations. In such cases, QIOs could play a pivotal role in providing the support necessary to respond to extreme weather threats and implement critical mitigation strategies. QIOs are private, mostly non-profit organizations that are required by law to contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide technical assistance and implement care quality improvements in specific geographic and clinical areas. These organizations are widely trusted partners within the medical community with a localized, on-the-ground perspective and a deep understanding of Medicare programs and their rules.
The legislation would dedicate funding for QIOs’ emergency preparedness work, enabling QIOs to work with lower-resourced providers to close gaps in preparedness and performance, improve the quality of Medicare services and help ensure continuity of health services during disasters.
In addition to being the Vice Chairman and most senior Republican on the powerful U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, Buchanan is also the Chairman of the Health Subcommittee, which has broad jurisdiction over traditional Medicare, the Medicare prescription drug benefit program and Medicare Advantage. As co-chair of the Florida congressional delegation, he has supported hurricane recovery efforts and advanced commonsense policies that protect providers, families and first responders during emergencies.
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