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Florida's elder affairs agency said 1,250 assisted living facilities and nursing homes have failed to respond to regulations imposed following Hurricane Irma – warning noncompliant facilities face fines of $1,000 a day.
On Monday, the Department of Elder Affairs said the facilities have failed to "submit a detailed emergency power plan to DOEA or apply for a waiver" by the Oct. 31 deadline.
Facilities that fail to comply could be fined $1,000 a day starting Wednesday and could ultimately have their license revoked.
"We are working very hard to update our information about nonresponsive facilities. We did hear from some [assisted living facilities] who should not have been on the list, and we immediately went to work to verify the information and correct our list where appropriate," DOEA Secretary Jeffrey Bragg said in a statement. "In doing so, however, we have found that the number of nonresponsive facilities actually increased, and we continue to work with facilities to help them follow the guidelines laid out in the rule.”
The list of all currently noncompliant facilities can be seen online.
The DOEA also announced that it, along with the Agency for Health Care Administration, filed documentation to make permanent the rules imposed after Hurricane Irma in an emergency order following the death of more than a dozen residents following a power outage in Hollywood.
The rules would require nursing homes and assisted living facilities to have an alternative power source, such as a generator, that would operate for at least 96 hours after a power outage. The rules would also require air temperatures are never to exceed 81 degrees Fahrenheit at such locations.
