Practice Management Alert

Putting informal or case-by-case policies in the employee handbook could minimize employee stress around flu season.

Even if your practice is a specialty practice, you are bound to encounter some effects of influenza at some point during this year’s flu season. From patient’s vaccination questions to sick employees to employees’ sick family members, preparing now, at the beginning of flu season, can mean less work later.

Help Employees Stay Healthy

Everyone who works in healthcare knows the importance of receiving vaccinations; maintaining an appropriate vaccination schedule is often a requirement of being on the job. But with so much exposure to so many bugs, even the most careful, conscientious, and healthiest employees are bound to come down with something at some point— or their kids or elderly live-in parent will.

“Each year, on average, 5 percent to 20 percent of the U.S. population gets the flu, tens of thousands are hospitalized and thousands die from flu-related illness. This costs an estimated $10.4 billion a year in direct medical expenses and an additional $16.3 billion in lost earnings annually,” says the CDC Foundation Business Pulse, an independent nonprofit entity created by the U.S. Congress that helps the private sector advance the reach of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public health.

“Get vaccinated and stay home if you’re sick” are the two cornerstone rules of minimizing the spread of many communicable diseases, but neither workplace policy nor industry culture are necessarily conducive to minimizing infection. While policymakers at the federal and state levels have adjusted policy so employees have the right to take leave for familial caregiving situations without losing their jobs, granted by legislation such as the Family Medical Leave Act, more acute sickness and caregiving situations frequently present a struggle to working parents.

“Missing work because a sick child was sent home or not allowed into child care is common; 42 percent of parents of young children in child care have missed work in the last year. Nearly a quarter of parents (26 percent) missed work three or more times over a one-year period because of their child,” reports the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital of the University of Michigan Health System in their 2012 poll and findings, “Sick Kids, Struggling Parents.”

“One-half of parents with children in child care report that finding alternative or backup child care for their sick children is difficult,” the findings say.

Your practice can boost employee loyalty and curb infection by instituting a policy that allows parents, guardians, or other familial caregivers to skip work without penalty when a child or other dependent is ill. While you may have an informal understanding or allow employees to take leave on a case-by-case basis, adding such a policy to your employee handbook may be the “permission” the most dedicated employees need to feel empowered in staying home — and not bringing that particularly nasty bug going around the elementary school back to your practice.

Adjust Office Protocols

If you work in a larger practice, you can create a backup schedule, too, so employees who are scrambling to find coverage aren’t starting from square one. Ask employees if they’re comfortable sharing their contact information, like cell phone numbers, with their colleagues, and make a miniature database (or even just an info sheet) so staff members know how to contact their team members if they suddenly cannot make it into the office. Even the most dedicated employees may feel better about giving in to the need for rest if they know they aren’t totally blindsiding the rest of staff.

Other ideas? If your practice doesn’t offer vaccinations, encourage employees to leave work early or during lunch to get vaccinated. Help cultivate a culture where healthcare personnel — whose life work is caring for others — care for themselves as well. Consider an inter-practice competition to see who can get the most sleep in a week. Consider investing in practice-specific reusable water bottles for employees to help them always have water on hand. Spring on better smelling or gentler soaps for every office sink.

Look for next months’ issue for tips, tricks, and guidance on coding this year’s influenza vaccinations.