Bringing Employees Back Safely with Baptist Health

Baptist Health is sharing a page from our own playbook to support a safe return to work for communities across Kentucky, southern Indiana and surrounding regions.

employer screening image

Employer Tools

The following testing solution and convenient and easy-to-use screening and monitoring tools are available to our employer partners:

  • A COVID-19 TESTING SOLUTION, both for employees with symptoms and those without symptoms who may have been in contact with a co-worker who tested positive. Testing can be completed onsite or in our Baptist Health Urgent Care locations, found at BaptistHealthClinics.com.
  • A WEB-BASED SCREENING APPLICATION we are using to protect patients and staff as employees return to work in our own medical facilities and administrative offices. Employees simply scan a QR code or visit a website to answer COVID-19 symptom-related health questions. Once the form is submitted, an employee either gets the green light to enter the building, or is referred for testing. Offered at no charge to our employer partners.
  • MYCHART CARE COMPANION, a home monitoring and case management platform conducted through Baptist Health’s patient electronic health record in conjunction with Baptist Health Virtual Care providers. Connecting patients with medical resources ensures they receive timely care and can help patients recover faster. Care coordination also supports employers by facilitating a medical informed return-to-work process. Symptomatic patients will receive a pulse oximeter and forehead thermometer for self-monitoring and reporting through MyChart (while supplies last). Care coordinators are alerted if a patient’s condition worsens. Offered at no charge to our employer partners.

 


For more information about Baptist Health’s COVID-19 workplace reopening service, contact:

Kelli Limbach at 502.253.5351

Frequently Asked Questions

Learn More.

As employers continue to navigate the reopening of businesses and adjust to new ways of operating, Baptist Health has screening tools and digital solutions to help you bring your employees back safely. The following frequently asked questions (FAQs) explain our comprehensive COVID-19 resources, which were developed to support a safe return to work in our own facilities.

Available to our employer partners, these direct-to-employer tools are convenient and easy to use. And, they can be customized to fit each employers’ specific needs.

What can Baptist Health do for an employee identified as having COVID-19 symptoms?

Baptist Health has 16 Urgent Care clinics across the system that are staffed and supplied with protective equipment, testing supplies and expertise to evaluate and treat employees with COVID-19 symptoms. Employers are directed to refer employees who are sick to these sites unless the employee is deemed critically ill and in need of transfer to a Baptist Health Emergency Department.

If the employee would prefer to have a Baptist Health virtual visit, they can do so through our website: Virtual Urgent Care. However, COVID-19 testing can only be performed in a bricks-and-mortar Urgent Care clinic.

Can Baptist Health test employees who are found to have been exposed to COVID-19 while working, but are not symptomatic?

Yes. If an asymptomatic employee or multiple employees has/have been identified through contact tracing to have been exposed to someone at work who is sick with COVID-19, our Urgent Care centers can evaluate and test that/those employee(s).

If an employer has a large number of asymptomatic employees who have been exposed and would like Baptist Health to conduct testing onsite, we can do so on a case-by-case basis using our Occupational Medicine clinics and personnel. All employees who show symptoms of COVID-19 should be referred to the Baptist Urgent Care clinic in their market.

Is Baptist Health able to help an employer with screening employees for COVID-19 symptoms when they arrive for work?

Yes. Baptist Health has developed a web-based screening tool that employers can implement to help ensure employees reporting to work do not have symptoms of COVID-19. The tool can be accessed at covidscreening.bhsi.com.

To use the tool, employees will need access to a smart phone capable of reading a QR code. Once the webpage is open, employees identify themselves and answer yes/no questions about symptoms of COVID-19 infection and exposure. If an employee attests they do not have symptoms of or exposure to COVID-19, they receive a green “check mark” notification they can share with their employer. If they have symptoms of or an exposure to COVID-19, an employee will receive a red “X” that can also be shared with the employer.

Employees who receive a red “X” from the questionnaire may visit a Baptist Health Urgent Care center for evaluation and possible testing for COVID-19, or see a Virtual Urgent Care provider online, if the employer or employee prefers a Virtual Visit.

Does Baptist Health do COVID-19 tests to return an infected employee to work?
Baptist Health follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) non-test based return-to-work protocol. This protocol relies on how long an employee has been sick or tested positive, as well as criteria based on the symptoms an employee is experiencing, to determine when an employee is safe to return to work. In most cases, employees are required to wear a surgical mask upon returning to work for a period of time. The current return-to-work protocol is attached at the end of this document.
How can an employer contact Baptist Health to discuss their COVID-19 solution needs?

Kelli Limbach, FAHM
Assistant Vice President
Value Based Care & Strategy
Baptist Health
2701 Eastpoint Parkway
Louisville, KY 40223

502.253.5351 office
317.652.4943 mobile
 

Contact Us by E-mail

Can Baptist Health test asymptomatic employees for COVID-19 if an employer asks for this service even if the employee has not been exposed to COVID-19 at work?
Yes. Through our Baptist Health Occupational Medicine clinics, we will test employees who fit this category. We can test multiple employees for an employer in our Occupational Medicine clinics, if needed, and can also provide this testing onsite on a case-by-case basis.
How long does an employee need to quarantine if they are infected or exposed to COVID-19?
Baptist Health follows the CDC protocol for quarantine of employees. The column at right details that protocol.
Learn More.
Back to Work Protocol

 

Baptist Health Employer COVID-19 Return-to-Work Protocol

To return to work, an employee must meet the following criteria:

Healthcare worker — symptomatic, with suspected COVID-19 or COVID-19+ test:

  • Minimum 10 days since first symptoms appeared, and
  • Minimum 72 hours afebrile without the use of antipyretics, and
  • Improved symptoms of cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, sore throat, muscle or body aches, chills, runny nose or congestion, loss of sense of taste or smell, nausea or vomiting, headache, diarrhea.
  • Surgical mask for 14 days or until symptoms resolved — whichever is longer.
  • Restricted from exposure to immunocompromised patients — 14 days from first symptoms.

Healthcare worker — asymptomatic with COVID-19+ test:

  • Minimum 10 days since first COVID-19+ test.
    • Unless symptoms develop in those 10 days, then see symptomatic return-to-work scenario.
  • Surgical mask for 14 days from first COVID-19+ test.
  • Restricted from exposure to immunocompromised patients 14 days from first COVID-19+ test.

Healthcare worker — exposed, but asymptomatic:

  • Quarantine 14 days, if reasonable.
  • If quarantine not reasonable (i.e., critical staff):
    • Continue to work with surgical mask in place at all times except to eat or drink.
    • Self-monitor for fever >= 100.0, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, muscle or body aches, chills, runny nose or congestion, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, headache.
    • If become symptomatic, report to Employee Health or direct supervisor.

Non-healthcare worker — symptomatic with suspected COVID-19 or COVID-19+ test:

  • Minimum 10 days since first symptoms appeared, and
  • Minimum 72 hours afebrile without the use of antipyretics, and
  • Improved symptoms of cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, sore throat, muscle or body aches, chills, runny nose or congestion, loss of sense of taste or smell, nausea or vomiting, headache, diarrhea.
  • Surgical mask for 14 days or until symptoms resolved — whichever is longer.

Non-healthcare worker — asymptomatic with COVID-19+ test:

  • Minimum 10 days since first COVID-19+ test.
  • Surgical mask for 14 days from first COVID-19+ test.

Non-healthcare worker — exposed, but asymptomatic:

  • Quarantine 14 days unless symptoms occur, then follow symptomatic quarantine/return-to-work protocol.