Association of Nursing Home Exposure to Hurricane-Related Inundation With Emergency Preparedness

Whether US nursing homes are well prepared for exposure to hurricane-related inundation is uncertain.

To estimate the prevalence of nursing homes exposed to hurricane-related inundation and evaluate whether exposed facilities are more likely to meet Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) emergency preparedness standards.

This cross-sectional study included CMS-certified nursing homes in Coastal Atlantic and Gulf Coast states from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2019. The prevalence of facilities exposed to at least 2 feet of hurricane-related inundation used models from the National Hurricane Center across coastal areas overseen by 5 CMS regional offices: New England, New York metropolitan area, Mid-Atlantic region, Southeast and Eastern Gulf Coast, and Western Gulf Coast. Critical emergency preparedness deficiencies cited during CMS life safety code inspections were identified.

The analysis used generalized estimating equations with binomial and negative binomial distributions to evaluate associations between exposure status and the presence and number of critical emergency preparedness deficiencies. Regionally stratified associations (odds ratios [ORs]) and rate ratios [RRs]) with 95% CIs, adjusted for state-level fixed effects and nursing home characteristics, were reported.

Of 5914 nursing homes, 617 (10.4%) were at risk of inundation exposure, and 1763 (29.8%) had a critical emergency preparedness deficiency. Exposed facilities were less likely to be rural, were larger, and had similar CMS health inspection, quality, and staffing ratings compared with unexposed facilities. Exposure was positively associated with the presence and number of emergency preparedness deficiencies for the nursing homes within the Mid-Atlantic region (adjusted OR, 1.91 [95% CI, 1.15-3.20]; adjusted RR, 2.51 [95% CI, 1.41-4.47]). Conversely, exposure was negatively associated with the number of emergency preparedness deficiencies among facilities within the Western Gulf Coast (aRR, 0.55 [95% CI, 0.36-0.86]). The associations for the number of emergency preparedness deficiencies remained after correction for multiple comparisons.

The findings of this cross-sectional study suggest that the association between exposure to hurricane-related inundation and nursing home emergency preparedness differs considerably across the Coastal Atlantic and Gulf regulatory regions. These findings further suggest that there may be opportunities to reduce regional heterogeneity and improve the alignment of nursing home emergency preparedness with surrounding environmental risks.