How often should employees be tested? How do you communicate that they should stay home?
These are just a few of the litany of decisions companies have been grappling with since the start of pandemic. Several large corporations, such as Google, Viacom and Amazon’s corporate offices, have told employees that they can work from home until 2021. Others will be able to keep working from home indefinitely.
And as states continue to break grim records for the number Covid-19 cases, many would be wise to stay at home.
But for those who have employees onsite, dozens of healthcare companies have started offering return-to-work programs to help screen employees and facilitate testing.
For example, CVS Health rolled out a testing solution for businesses. The company has drummed up 70 clients for this service, which has also served as a source of new customers. In a November earnings call, CEO Larry Merlo said 40% of its clients for the program were not previous CVS customers.
Google’s sister company, Verily, also has its own program that it implemented at the University of Alabama at Burmingham and Brown University. It includes a mixture of testing, screening services and analytics.
“Employers may be inundated with options. Some of course, better than others. I think that what they choose should be based upon ultimately their overall needs,” Kristi Mitchell, Avalere’s practice director of the Center for Healthcare Transformation, wrote in an email.
For instance, some companies need more help communicating pandemic plans to employees. Others might need assistance navigating employee rights, workman’s compensation, or implementing testing and vaccination requirements.
Companies that have the expertise, such as a chief medical officer, might choose to develop their own programs.
These considerations don’t just boil down to testing and contact tracing.
“In addition, many companies are struggling to keep their workforce motivated and engaged in these most unprecedented times, recognizing that fully ‘returning to work’ may not be possible. While working remotely for some has not been difficult, for others it has been a bit of a never-ending nightmare,” Mitchell wrote. “If you think about these issues across a continuum from those who live alone and make be suffering from social isolation to those employees who may have a working spouse and several school-aged children, the needs that employers have to address are quite varied and has required quite a bit of creativity.”
Eden Health, a New York-based primary care startup, began developing a program back in March when one of their clients, an essential business, had to stay open. It boils down to daily screening, wearing masks, social distancing in the office and doing frequent testing.
“We talk to people about building the muscle of screening, an employer that recognizes they’re going to have to be somewhat flexible with how people return,” CEO Matt McCambridge said in a phone interview.
Employees fill out a questionnaire about their symptoms, temperature and close contacts. If their screening returns a positive result, one of the company’s clinicians will reach out to them through a video visit or text.
“We’re going to stay with them throughout that whole process,” he said.
The company also added a dashboard where employers can see what employees and visitors who have been in the building, and their Covid-19 status.
Since March, Eden claims it has isolated 600 potential Covid-19 cases. Commercial real estate company Connell and coworking space Convene extended it as a benefit to their tenants, and Emigrant Bank, Rent the Runway and Bell’s Brewery also use the service.
For McCambridge, the biggest differentiator is having clinicians to help people figure out what to do after they’re screened or tested.
“There’s a lack of access to testing still today,” he said. “The idea that people can be tested once and left to their own devices, or screened, it’s not a recipe for success.”
What about a vaccine?
There’s still one big outstanding question that most return-to-work programs have yet to address: What happens when a vaccine is available?
“The real issue that is not in any of the off the shelf products is what is the plan for the advent of vaccines,” Mitchell wrote. “Key questions will likely need to be addressed and tools/resources will be needed around which vaccine to use. Will they mandate that for employees to go back to work that they are vaccinated?”
Companies will also need to address if it is truly safe for everyone to return to the office after a vaccine is available. They’ll still have to consider masks and how desks and other equipment will be reconfigured to accommodate social distancing.
When asked how Eden was handling this issue, McCambridge said they were communicating for workers to expect a slow rollout nationally.
“Our messaging to people is you’re likely still going to be wearing masks,” he said.
Photo credit: sorbetto, Getty Images
