Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, MD, on Saturday as Hurricane Harvey was pounding the state's coast.
Harvey made landfall late Friday night with winds topping 130 mph. Forecasts called for the storm to hover over the state for 5 days or more, possibly drenching some areas with as much as 50 inches of rain. Hundreds of thousands were without power and the National Weather Service said parts of Texas could be "uninhabitable for weeks or months."
"Many Medicare beneficiaries have been evacuated to neighboring communities where receiving hospitals and nursing homes may have no health care records, information on current health status or even verification of the person's status as a Medicare beneficiary. Due to the emergency declaration and other actions taken by HHS, CMS is able to waive certain documentation requirements to help ensure facilities can deliver care," an HHS statement read.
Even before making the declaration, HHS had , as forecasters had already predicted devastating effects from Harvey days before it made landfall.
Federal officials were clearly hoping to avoid a repeat of the sluggish government response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. President Trump officially declared a disaster on Friday when the Texas coast had barely begun receiving sprinkles of rain.
HHS is listing .