1. Exploring the Special Needs and Potential Role of Nursing Homes in Surge Capacity Lucy A. Savitz, Ph.D., M.B.A. Senior Health Research Analyst Quality, Outcomes and Safety Research Program Research Triangle Institute Research Triangle Park, NC E-mail savitz@rti.org savitz@rti.org

2. Why Consider Nursing Homes? Previous focus has been on hospital and first responder preparedness Elderly population is particularly vulnerable in times of disaster Inclusion of nursing homes in preparedness planning is unknown

3. Key Issues to Study in Nursing Homes Disaster plan preparation and training Special needs Patient flows Rural areas State regulations

4. How Can We Explore These Issues? Two-stage, Exploratory Study I. Qualitative Case Studies in 6 States –Focus groups –Comments on survey tool –In-depth discussions –Review of documents II. Atlas Comparative facility and rural-urban continuum data for 50 States Drill down for 6 States, comparing data for relevant planning areas

5. Case Study States with RTI IDSRN Partners Utah: Intermountain Health Care (IHC) California, Oregon, Washington: Providence Health System North Carolina: UNC Health Care North Carolina: UNC Health Care Pennsylvania: UPMC Health System

6. Preliminary Findings Nursing Homes have: Natural disaster plans in place Not been included in preparedness planning Special needs Potential to offer surge capacity extensions

7. ATLAS

10. Opportunities to Enhance Preparedness Planning and resource decisions Nursing home administrators Special needs and contributions Update disaster plans Targeted training for staff