CPF WEBINAR EMPLOYMENT LAW IN THE CORONAVIRUS LANDSCAPE
CPF hosted a webinar on Thursday led by Nashville Attorney Kim Vance
discussing Employment and Labor law and what practices can do to be flexible and protect the business while the Coronavirus outbreak impacts patient visits and employee hours. Topics covered include Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and how the new Emergency Family and Medical and Paid Sick Leave provisions may affect your practice.
Dislcaimer: The information presented in the webinar and the attached PowerPoint presentation is general in nature and not intended to be legal advice on any particular individualized situation.
Who is Kim Vance?
Kim Vance is a shareholder in the labor and employment practice group of Baker Donelson. She has over 30 years of experience representing employers in every aspect of labor and employment law. Ms. Vance has been listed since 2008 in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers as an Employment attorney and Mid-South Super Lawyers. Ms. Vance is listed in Best Lawyers in America for employment law for 2016-2020.
UPCOMING CPF WEBINAR REAL ESTATE STRATEGIES IN THE UNSTABLE CORONAVIRUS MARKET TUESDAY AT 2 PM
CPF will be hosting a webinar on Tuesday at NOON with Mike Jorgenson, Regional Director for Carr Healthcare Realty, to discuss what practices can do to work with landlords or lenders to find flexibility with leases and loans while the Coronavirus outbreak impacts revenue.
UPCOMING CPF WEBINAR ADAPTING TO TELEHEALTH AS A COMMUNITY PRACTICE TUESDAY AT 6:30 PM
CPF will be hosting a webinar on Tuesday at 6:30 PM with Amber Humphrey, Director of Telehealth for Vanderbilt University Medical Center, discussing how community practices and providers can adapt to telehealth under the new guidelines put in place in response to the Coronavirus outbreak.
THE BUSINESS IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON PEDIATRIC PRACTICES WEBINAR PART 3 - THURSDAY AT 6 PM
The Pediatric Management Institute (PMI) has been holding webinars on The Business Impact of COVID-19 on Pediatric Practices to discuss financial and operational issues pediatric practices are facing and offer tangible action items that can be used in the coming days, weeks, and months.
WEBINAR: The CARES Act - Your Piece of the $2 Trillion Pie
The new Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) includes billions of dollars in relief for healthcare providers. In this webinar, PYA experts will break down the complicated legislative language, covering topics that include:
Creating a $100 billion Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund to reimburse providers for expenses and lost revenue attrituble to COVID-19
Providing forgivable small business loans for providers with fewer than 500 employees (including non-profits)
In addition to local ordinances, TN Gov. Bill Lee has decreed multiple executive orders regarding emergency proceedings for every branch of the government and the delivery of health care.
This week, Gov. Lee established the Unified Command Group to streamline the efforts of TDH, the TN Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), and the Department of the Military. Another newly signed Executive Order - EO 18 - prohibits hospitals and ambulatory centers from performing elective procedures. It also prohibits elective dental procedures and visits and asks for the donation of PPE when possible from those sites to local armories.
Guidance for other providers, including ambulatory medical providers, has not changed. TDH continues to encourage patients to seek care first from their usual site of care. Telehealth and telemedicine should be maximized for acute and chronic visits. Elective visits should be postponed.
TDH continues to ask that testing is prioritized for individuals who are the sickest, health care workers, and those who need the testing for clinical-decision making. If the test will not influence clinical decision-making, a test is unlikely to be needed. Many people will have symptoms and even exposures who do not need a test.
Due to heightened need to care for the most medically at-risk patients, the state lab is currently unable to process COVID-19 testing for uninsured patients unless they are hospitalized. However, TDH has contracted with commercial labs to provide payment (no more than $70 each) for uninsured outpatients.
If the logistics have not been worked out with your contracted lab, please contact TDH and the state will reach out to the lab.
SITE OF CARE (ASSESSMENT AND TESTING)
TDH continues to encourage patients to seek care first from their usual site of care and to enable providers to accommodate that need. Shortages of PPE, of testing supplies, and of testing site availability are increasingly common.
TDH is looking for every opportuinty to fix those issues but permanent solutions are not immediately available and TDH needs your help in addressing shortages by implementing strategies to conserve PPE and by putting procedures into place to minimize unnecessary tests.
Providers do NOT need to consult with public health before sending a test to a commercial lab. Providers are advised to prioritize testing highly symptomatic and not asymptomatic individuals.
TDH is continuing to test in the state lab, although capacity is limited, through the clinical consult line 615-741-7247. High-risk groups are being prioritized.
All COVID-19 cases should be reported immediately to TDH by calling 615-741-7247.
There has been a rapid expansion in reimbursement opportunities for telehealth, now including home-based telehealth coverage by nearly every plan in the state during this time of public health response.
Guidance from TDH: Please utilize teleheath and telephone triage as much as possible for both sick and well patients. This is critical to minimize public exposure to illness and to optimize capacity for routine and emergent care. Utilization of telehealth and telephonic management should be optimized in all settings.
The CDC has adjusted recommendations for isolation of cases at home to be for at least7 days (not 14),including afebrile and feeling well for at least 72 hours. The TN Dept of Health has adapted this recommendation as well.
Note: Contacts should still remain quarantined for 14 days following last exposure.
Public health staff are changing their monitoring protocol to include:
Making initial contact with lab confirmed cases
Conducting a thorough interview to identify close contacts
Ensuring that the cases understand the requirement to remain isolated
Contacting close contacts to explain their exposure, and the recommendation to remain home for 14 days following their exposure
Following the initial interview, public health will no longer actively check in with the patient (or contacts) each day, but rather ask the case to get in touch with their provider if they need medical care and public health if they have exposure, isolation, or quarantine questions.
NEWBORN NURSERY GUIDANCE
The TN Dept of Health does NOT recommend early (<24 hours after birth) discharges for newborns. Further guidance can be found at the link:
