September 1, 2017:
West Bend Insurance is warning businesses, clinics, and hospitals to check their insurance before sending employees or staff into dangerous situations like hurricane relief in Texas. This applies not only to currently, but over the years of clean-up to follow.
West Bend states: In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, service providers, particularly contractors, may be headed to the gulf region to help with storm clean up and/or repairs and rebuilds. Doing so, however, can impact the Work Comp, General Liability, Inland Marine, and Commercial Auto lines of business and lead to potential issues or coverage gaps for these policyholders.
In addition, be sure to check on licenses for professional services, such as nurses, EMS, and physicians. See yesterday’s article on the Texas Volunteer Registery link.
FQHCs are reminded that their Federal Tort Claims Act liability coverage is very restricted in liability coverage for disaster medical care rendered outside their immediate area. Clinics should check with the rules before sending personnel. See the BPHC information below.
In response to Hurricane Harvey, BPHC is sharing guidance documents to support your response to the emergency:
- Program assistance letter (PAL 2014-05): Updated Process for Requesting a Change in Scope to Add Temporary Sites in Response to Emergency Events
- 340B Drug Pricing Program operations during a public health emergency
- Federal Tort Claims Act Health Center Policy Manual, Section F: FTCA Coverage When Responding to Emergency Events
Additional resources that may be useful:
- HHS – news and information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- PHE – information on disaster health preparedness, response and recovery; brought to you by HHS’ Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR)
- CDC – information from CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR)