Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/888081
170 CMO / CARE DELIVERY San Diego Washes City Streets With Bleach Amid Hepatitis A Outbreak By Brian Zimmerman S an Diego city workers washed the city's downtown streets with bleach Sept. 13 in an effort to control a deadly outbreak of hepatitis A, according a report from NPR. Since the outbreak began in November 2016, the County of San Di- ego's Health and Human Services Agency has tallied 421 cases, 292 hospitalizations and 16 deaths. The outbreak has had an outsized effect on the county's homeless and illicit drug using populations. Mike Saag, MD, a professor and infectious disease expert with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, described San Diego's street-washing approach as reasonable, according to NPR. "If there's a sanitation problem, then the thing to do is clean up the area, and bleach is probably the best disinfectant that we have for this type of viral infection," Dr. Saag told NPR. Hepatitis A is a highly contagious viral infection. Symptoms include abdominal pain, low-grade fever, nausea, fatigue and jaundice. The virus is most often spread via contact with fecal matter from an infected individual, which can contaminate food and water. n Florida Nursing Home Where Residents Died in Sweltering Heat had Repeat Safety Violations By Ayla Ellison T he nursing home in Hollywood, Fla., where overheating may have caused nearly one doz- en patients to die after spending days without air conditioning in the wake of Hurricane Irma, has a history of patient safety violations, according to STAT. At the time of publication, 11 resident deaths were linked to the temperature of the nursing home facility. The nursing home, the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, had electricity following the hur- ricane but experienced "prolonged power failure to the transformer which powered the facility's air conditioning," Jorge Carballo, the nursing home administrator, said in a statement to NBC 6. Police opened a criminal investigation Sept. 13 into the deaths, and Florida Gov. Rick Scott, R, said he would "aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place." On Sept. 14, the governor ordered the nursing home removed from the state Medicaid program, according to Reuters. Six days later, on Sept. 20, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration suspended the nursing home's license. This terminates the facility from the Med- icaid program and prohibits it from admitting pa- tients and operating as a nursing home. According to STAT, federal regulators have cited the nursing home twice for violations related to its gen- erators. CMS records show Rehabilitation Center of Hollywood Hills was only equipped with a tempo- rar y generator in early 2016 and officials lacked a plan to replace it with a permanent generator. In late 2014, federal inspectors noted a remote generator alarm at the nursing home was not func- tional. "If not maintained, the emergency generator may fail without staff being aware," according to the inspectors' report. Each time the nursing home was cited for issues related to its backup power capabilities, adminis- trators said they would correct the problems, ac- cording to STAT. n 275+ HOSPITAL AND HEALTH SYSTEM EXECUTIVES SPEAKING OVER 320 SPEAKERS TOTAL 9TH ANNUAL MEETING APRIL 11-14, 2018 HYATT REGENCY | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Celebrity Keynotes By George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States of America and President Bill Clinton, Founder of the Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States of America REGISTER HERE www.beckershospitalreview.com/conference registration@beckershealthcare.com, jcole@beckershealthcare.com, sbecker@beckershealthcare.com or 800.417.2035.