It’s that time of year again, when we set our clocks ahead and lose a precious hour of sleep. It’s also when we typically check or replace our smoke alarm batteries to ensure we’re safeguarded in the months ahead. So, what better time for you, as a contingency planning professional, to review your organization’s Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), Continuity of Operations/Government Plan (COOP/COG), Business Continuity Plan (BCP)? Or, perhaps make the necessary preparations to conduct some form of exercise in the coming weeks? Exactly, and the experts at BOLDplanning agree wholeheartedly!

The BOLDplanning team cannot emphasize enough the importance of routine testing to ensure your organization’s readiness to respond to and recover from emergency and continuity events. As a best practice, emergency and continuity plans should be reviewed and updated at least yearly. Certain contracts, grants, regulations and standards even require you to do so.

Take for example, a Medicare or Medicaid-funded healthcare facility, such as a hospital, long-term care facility or hospice.

If these operations are looking to receive reimbursement for treatment, they must comply with the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule. This requires them to review and update their plans annually, provide a training program for e