Nursing Home Fire Safety Act of 2007

An estimated 1,500,000 Americans reside in approximately 16,300 nursing facilities nationwide, an estimated 20 to 30 percent of which lack an automatic fire sprinkler system.

In a July 2004 report, the Government Accountability Office found that the substantial loss of life in [recent nursing home] fires could have been reduced or eliminated by the presence of properly functioning automatic sprinkler systems and that Federal oversight of nursing home compliance with fire safety standards is inadequate.

Many nursing facilities lack the financial capital to install sprinklers on their own and must consider closure as an alternative to taking on large loans or other financing options in order to install sprinklers.

Recognizing that automatic fire sprinkler systems greatly improve the chances of survival for older adults in the event of a fire, the National Fire Protection Association, with the support of the American Health Care Association, the fire safety community, and the nursing facility profession, recently adopted requirements for automatic sprinklers in all existing nursing facilities.

within 5 years, every nursing facility in America should be equipped with automatic fire sprinklers in order to ensure patient, resident, and staff safety;

the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should require all nursing homes to be fully sprinklered as recently required by the Life Safety Code of the National Fire Protection Association with the support of the nursing home industry, which includes the requirement that all nursing facilities be fully sprinklered; and

the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in collaboration with Congress, should take into consideration the costs of retrofitting existing nursing home facilities and commit itself to providing facilities with the critical financial resources necessary to ensure the speedy and full installation of life saving sprinkler systems.