OSHA outlines new emergency temporary standard on COVID-19 safety for healthcare workers

Be prepared to quickly implement the elements of a new OSHA emergency temporary standard on COVID-19 safety for workers in your hospital or other parts of your healthcare system where potential exposure to the deadly coronavirus is possible.

The CDC is encouraging hospitals and urgent care centers to step up outreach to vulnerable patient populations by offering COVID-19 vaccinations to patients at discharge from emergency departments (EDs).

Physicians are essential players in the healthcare system. When physicians lack trust in institutions, sectors, and colleagues, it erodes healthcare’s fundamental grounding in a series of human relationships. The recent national survey, which was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for the Philadelphia-based ABIM Foundation, is based on information collected from 600 physicians nationwide.

Scientists are warning that warmer, wetter weather this year will increase the number of ticks born this year, as well as extend tick season. Bradley T. Truax, MD, principal consultant of the Truax Group, says that healthcare providers need to ensure patients know both how to avoid ticks and what to do if bitten. Since most tick bites occur outside of the healthcare setting, education is key to patient safety, he says.

Review any policies you updated to meet the requirements under the new Information Management standard to reflect that The Joint Commission (TJC) has already updated the language in its new elements of performance (EP).

Also note that CMS has finally updated its interpretive guidelines for its own surveyors, with four new tags for Appendix A for hospitals and two new tags for Appendix W for critical access hospitals (CAH) under the State Operations Manual.

The updates are all related to the final rules last year designed to improve interoperability of electronic medical records (EMR) and communication between healthcare providers for patients as they are admitted or discharged from hospital care.