Though many areas were spared the promised blizzard, hospitals on the East Coast stocked up on medical and surgical supplies, drugs and food with the understanding that the roads may not be clear for days, according to an article on the Modern Healthcare website.

Power outages because of high-force winds were possible, but hospitals said they are better equipped now to deal with outages and backup generators than they were during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, when a number of such backup generators at hospitals were damaged by floodwater. 

“It's much less a concern that it was two years ago,” said Christopher O'Connor, president of GNYHA Services, a group-purchasing organization owned by the Greater New York Hospital Association.

“We . . connected with all our snowplow contractors to ensure they're ready to help with snow removal," a spokesman for the Cambridge Health Alliance, which has three hospitals and a network of clinics in the Boston area, said.

Read the article.