What Immunizations are Required by Hospitals and Who is Subject to these Requirements?
If Your Employees Service a Hospital, There’s a Good Chance They’ll Need to Prove Immunity to Certain Diseases
It comes as no surprise that Healthcare Workers (HCWs) and Healthcare Industry Representatives (HCIRs) are at high risk of exposure to harmful, dangerous, and sometimes deadly diseases. Therefore, they are mandated to demonstrate immunity to these diseases. Up to date vaccinations reduce the risk of diseases being carelessly spread to patients and hospital staff. It is also equally important to ensure each HCW or HCIR is adequately protected from exposure themselves. This proof of immunity process is an extremely important part of the vendor credentialing process.
There are a wide range of workers that both service and work directly with healthcare facilities. These individuals either have direct or indirect contact with patients. If your company’s service or product requires your employees to enter or work directly with hospitals, they will likely be required to prove immunity to certain diseases.
Common Industries Where Employees Require Immunizations to Service Healthcare Facilities:
- Healthcare Staffing Agencies – Registered Nurses, Physicians, Therapists and Allied employees.
- Medical Device Sales and Technicians
- Pharmaceutical Sales
- Medical Equipment Sterilization
- Durable Medical Equipment Repair
Proving Immunity to Access Healthcare Facilities:
In order to work in or have access to a hospital setting, your employees need to provide proof of immunity to a few of the most commonly spread diseases.
Immunity can be shown through vaccination records or a titer test. A titer test is a blood test which reveals an individual’s antibody count for the specific disease that is being tested for. If the antibody count is high enough, the individual is considered immune to the disease. If the antibody count is low, then it will be medically necessary to get your employee vaccinated to achieve immunity.
Most Common Required Vaccinations for Employees Servicing the Healthcare Industry:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/rec-vac/hcw.html
Other Commonly Required Occupational Health Screenings:
As part of the vendor credentialing process, there are a few other types of medical screenings that are commonly required in addition to proof of immunity via immunizations or titer testing.
These screenings include:
- Drug and Alcohol Screenings (panel type varies from facility to facility)
- Physical Exams
- Annual Tuberculosis (TB) Testing
- N95 Mask Fittings
Occupational Health Screenings For Your Employees:
NMS Health offers a solution for all titer testing, immunization and occupational health screening needs. We handle all scheduling, result review and record retrieval so your team can save time and focus on other important projects. Using our easy to use platform, Pod, your can quickly order the screenings you need for your employees for anywhere in the U.S. Your team will also be able to track all your requests in real time and automate annual compliance requirements.
If you’d like to see if we can help your company, request more info here.
