HealthCap’s new Emergency Preparedness Manual is a comprehensive guide designed to equip organizations with detailed procedures for a wide range of emergency scenarios. The manual is organized into nine sections, each addressing specific emergency types and providing step-by-step protocols, checklists, and response plans:

• Section I – General: Introduces the manual with essential emergency contact information, a detailed description of emergency codes, and tools such as a community audit checklist and guidelines for assembling an emergency supply box. It also covers critical aspects like traffic control, parking, and the summons or recall of off-duty personnel.
• Section II – Fire: Outlines fire and explosion safety plans, including various fire alerting systems, procedures for resetting fire alarms, and detailed protocols for conducting and analyzing fire drills. Regular fire safety checks on a weekly and monthly basis are also included.
• Section III – Utility Emergencies: Addresses disruptions to essential services with instructions for handling situations such as loss of the call light system, natural gas leaks or interruptions, telephone service failures, water line breaks, flooding, and power outages. This section also details emergency power procedures when generators are unavailable.
• Section IV – Weather Related Emergencies: Provides preparedness strategies for diverse weather conditions and natural disasters—including cold weather emergencies, heat waves, heavy snow or ice conditions, tornado warnings and watches, hurricane safety, and earthquake preparedness, response, and post-event recovery.
• Section V – Man Made Threats: Focuses on responses to non-natural incidents, offering guidelines for suspected biological events (including terrorism), bomb threats (with accompanying checklists), blood spill cleanups, workplace weapons, and chemical spills. It also includes strategies for handling hazardous accidents or incidents and threats of violence.
• Section VI – Evacuation: Details comprehensive evacuation plans that include building and unit/floor-specific floor plans, post-evacuation protocols for residents, strategies for the safe return of evacuees, and guidelines for accepting evacuees into safe environments.
• Section VII – Elopement: Provides risk assessments and response guidelines for situations where residents may leave without authorization, ensuring rapid and safe management of elopement incidents.
• Section VIII – Active Shooter: Lays out specific policies and procedures for active shooter scenarios, alongside a preparedness program designed to enhance the safety and rapid response capabilities of staff and residents.
• Section IX – Pandemic – Public Health Emergency: Offers an extensive framework for managing public health crises. This section includes pandemic planning checklists, infection prevention measures, core principles for infection control, and detailed documentation guidelines. It further covers crisis communication, medical care protocols, legal and ethical considerations, isolation procedures, daily care adjustments, mental health management, transport protocols, and terminal cleaning/disinfection. Additionally, it discusses contact tracing protocols, the integration of telemedicine, and special considerations for staff management during emergencies.

Overall, HealthCap’s manual is a robust resource aimed at ensuring that organizations are well-prepared to manage a broad spectrum of emergencies with clarity, precision, and comprehensive support measures.

 

The 2025 Norovirus Toolkit provides senior living communities with detailed guidance to prevent and manage norovirus outbreaks. It includes policies and procedures for infection control, hand hygiene, dietary sanitation, employee illness tracking, visitor restrictions, and environmental cleaning. The toolkit also features practical tools like tracking logs and forms aligned with CDC and FDA guidelines to enhance compliance and safeguard resident well-being during outbreaks.

The HealthCap Abuse & Neglect Prevention Toolkit provides comprehensive guidance for preventing, identifying, investigating, and responding to abuse and neglect in healthcare facilities. It includes policies and procedures, definitions, investigation checklists, administrative tips, guidelines for interviewing, documentation review guidelines, training materials, and examples of in-service training for staff. The toolkit aims to ensure compliance with federal and state regulations and promote a safe environment for residents.

State and Federal surgery agencies are being trained to perform record reviews, focusing on the legality of signatures, denying admission based on the resident refusing to sign an arbitration agreement and whether the resident is presented with a 30-day opt-out option once signed. Surveyors are also being given an extensive list of questions to use when interviewing residents, representatives, etc. on how well the arbitration process and key terms were explained to them prior to asking them to sign. Additionally, there are now a few federal F tag citations that may be cited in the event a facility is not able to show that arbitration agreements are being explained appropriately and signed by a legally authorized individual.

We've made the Facility Binding Arbitration Agreement Checklist and the Voluntary Binding Arbitration Agreement Sample available in Spanish to share with your Spanish-speaking residents and families.

An Active Shooter Program designed specifically for long-term care centers and laid out for your center to personalize as needed. This Active Shooter Program draws upon evidence-based research and information to help your team’s Disaster Preparedness planning

Alzheimer's causes, diagnosis and fact sheets

The decision to use bed rails is complex and based on a person-centered approach utilizing clinical judgment, as well as physical, psychological, and environmental factors. The use of bed rails has been associated with an increased risk of injury and death related to entrapment where a resident becomes caught, trapped, or entangled in the space in or about the bed rail. Bed rails are intended solely to assist residents with independent repositioning. Bed rails should not be used as a restraint or for discipline and must solely be used for medical necessity. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that residents who use bed rails remain as safe as possible, through appropriate utilization and maintenance of such devices. 

This toolkit provides various activity ideas for caregivers to engage residents living with dementia. It emphasizes maintaining a routine and offers creative activities to keep residents occupied, reduce loneliness, and enhance their well-being. Activities include arts and crafts, music, bird watching, gardening, and themed events tailored to different personality types.

This toolkit provides various activity ideas for caregivers to engage residents living with dementia. It emphasizes maintaining a routine and offers creative activities to keep residents occupied, reduce loneliness, and enhance their well-being. Activities include arts and crafts, music, bird watching, gardening, and themed events tailored to different personality types.

Este kit de actividades ofrece diversas ideas para que los cuidadores involucren a residentes con demencia. Enfatiza mantener una rutina y presenta actividades creativas para mantener a los residentes ocupados, reducir la soledad y mejorar su bienestar. Las actividades incluyen artes y manualidades, música, observación de aves, jardinería y eventos temáticos adaptados a diferentes tipos de personalidad.

A competency is a set of knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) needed for an individual to successfully perform various job duties. Under the new Requirements of Participation (RoP), competency goes hand in hand with the facility assessment, understanding the level of care your residents require and validating that the caregivers assigned to caring for them are competent. The CMS Competency Toolkit is not a requirement but a great resource and is on the CMS website at https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/Downloads/CMPRP-Toolkit-1-Instruction-Manual.pdf The HealthCap RMS Competency Toolkit was developed as an additional resource, providing competency validation checklists for direct care staff as well as licensed staff. Using this toolkit in conjunction with the CMS toolkit will assist in ensuring you are meeting your resident needs as well as the Federal requirements on competency.

Additional checklists for direct care staff: A competency is a set of knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) needed for an individual to successfully perform various job duties. Under the new Requirements of Participation (RoP), competency goes hand in hand with the facility assessment, understanding the level of care your residents require and validating that the caregivers assigned to caring for them are competent. The CMS Competency Toolkit is not a requirement but a great resource and is on the CMS website at https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/Downloads/CMPRP-Toolkit-1-Instruction-Manual.pdf The HealthCap RMS Competency Toolkit was developed as an additional resource, providing competency validation checklists for direct care staff as well as licensed staff. Using this toolkit in conjunction with the CMS toolkit will assist in ensuring you are meeting your resident needs as well as the Federal requirements on competency.

Additional checklists for direct care staff: A competency is a set of knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) needed for an individual to successfully perform various job duties. Under the new Requirements of Participation (RoP), competency goes hand in hand with the facility assessment, understanding the level of care your residents require and validating that the caregivers assigned to caring for them are competent. The CMS Competency Toolkit is not a requirement but a great resource and is on the CMS website at https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/Downloads/CMPRP-Toolkit-1-Instruction-Manual.pdf The HealthCap RMS Competency Toolkit was developed as an additional resource, providing competency validation checklists for direct care staff as well as licensed staff. Using this toolkit in conjunction with the CMS toolkit will assist in ensuring you are meeting your resident needs as well as the Federal requirements on competency.

This Toolkit outlines the guidelines for the use of electronic monitoring devices in resident rooms. It covers consent procedures, installation requirements, cost responsibilities, privacy law compliance, and signage requirements. The policy aims to ensure resident safety and privacy while allowing for the use of monitoring devices under specified conditions.

This Toolkit outlines the guidelines for the use of electronic monitoring devices in resident rooms. It covers consent procedures, installation requirements, cost responsibilities, privacy law compliance, and signage requirements. The policy aims to ensure resident safety and privacy while allowing for the use of monitoring devices under specified conditions.

Este kit de herramientas describe las directrices para el uso de dispositivos de monitoreo electrónico en las habitaciones de los residentes. Cubre los procedimientos de consentimiento, los requisitos de instalación, las responsabilidades de costos, el cumplimiento de las leyes de privacidad y los requisitos de señalización. La política tiene como objetivo garantizar la seguridad y privacidad de los residentes, permitiendo el uso de dispositivos de monitoreo bajo condiciones especificadas.

Elopement is a serious and significant event that can lead to resident harm or death. In addition, the regulatory, financial, and legal implications of an elopement can stay with a facility for years. Current standards of practice and evidence-based strategies can assist in reducing the risk of elopement and negative outcomes.

This toolkit is intended to guide the interdisciplinary team in identifying the root cause for these behaviors and develop plans that balance freedom of movement and safety. This toolkit also addresses the rights of residents who are alert and oriented.

The "Emergency Preparedness Manual" is a comprehensive guide for senior living facilities detailing various policies and procedures to handle emergencies. It includes specific guidelines for dealing with active shooter events, elopement, blood spill cleanup, staffing during emergencies, telemedicine, and access to electronic health records by surveyors. The manual emphasizes preparedness, staff training, and compliance with legal and regulatory standards to ensure the safety and well-being of residents and staff.

Multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) transmission is common in skilled nursing facilities, contributing to substantial resident morbidity and mortality and increased healthcare costs. Enhanced Barrier Precautions (EBP) are an infection control intervention designed to reduce transmission of resistant organisms that employs targeted gown and glove use during high contact resident care activities.

Policies, checklists, tools and more to assist in the reduction of falls.

Each resident should have an interdisciplinary hydration assessment completed upon admission, upon re-admission, quarterly, annually, and with significant change in condition, to assist in identifying the risk of dehydration. Use our toolkit to help.