Emergency plan rules in District of Columbia
One license type researched, regulated by District of Columbia Department of Health (DC Health). Every requirement below carries the rule that imposes it.
Assisted living / residential care
Licensed in District of Columbia as Assisted Living Residence, by District of Columbia Department of Health (DC Health).
22-B DCMR §10110.2(l) (assisted living residences must meet the emergency preparedness standards of 42 CFR §483.73)
District rules require every assisted living residence to meet the emergency preparedness standards CMS sets for long-term care facilities at 42 CFR §483.73, whether or not the residence participates in Medicare or Medicaid. The residence therefore owes the federal program (risk assessment and emergency plan, policies and procedures, communication plan, training and testing) on the authority of its District license.
22-B DCMR §10110.2(l); 42 CFR §483.73- STRUCTURAL: in the District the CMS emergency preparedness content attaches to the assisted living license by address, not to Medicare or Medicaid participation. A generator that gates the federal content only on 'do you participate?' will under-produce for every DC assisted living residence.
Reviewed 2026-09-28
What this page is
The requirements District of Columbia places on a facility emergency preparedness plan, taken from the state’s own rules rather than a national template. Where we have confirmed something against primary text it is stated plainly; where we have not, it says so and names what to check. Nothing here is inferred from what other states do.
The part that is the same everywhere
The federal layer does not vary by state, and it is narrower than it is usually described. OSHA 29 CFR §1910.38 does not bind every employer on its own — by its applicability paragraph it governs an emergency action plan whenever another OSHA standard requires the employer to have one, and it then settles what that plan must contain. The CMS emergency preparedness rule applies by certified provider type rather than by building. That layer, plus the exit-route, alarm and first-aid rules and the fire code’s plan structure, is covered in the main crash course rather than repeated on all fifty state pages.
Write the plan
The Emergency Plan Builder produces the document itself. It reads the same research as this page, but it does not yet carry every requirement here into the plan it writes, so check the plan against this page before you rely on it for District of Columbia. The Compliance Calendar puts the drills and inspections on dates.