Employer-operated occupational health clinics are becoming more common and more sophisticated. However, while ample guidance and certifications exist for hospitals and health systems, the industry has lacked a playbook for identifying the best technology systems for their specific needs. The recently announced guidance from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) for selecting technologies used in these clinics aims to fill this gap and shine a spotlight on this often misunderstood area of healthcare. Recently, we talked to Jeff Donnell, president of Enterprise Health, to learn more about the value of occupational health and how the new guidelines will benefit organizations beyond patient care .
Future Healthcare Today (FHT): How do you define occupational healthcare, and what services fall under that umbrella?
Jeff Donnell (JD): Occupational health is a unique niche that not many people are familiar with. Historically, drivers for employers to provide healthcare services arose from workplace safety and a need to comply with regulatory bodies like OSHA. If an employee is injured at work, employees need to report the particulars and outcome of the incident, how many days they needed to take off work, and what measures were taken to address the injury or illness. Later, that expanded to include medical surveillance based on risk factors that employees are exposed to in their jobs, such as annual hearing exams or respirator fit tests, and now, they’re expanding to include even more general health services like urgent care.
FHT: What are some of the challenges occupational health clinics face in terms of compliance?
JD: Workplace injuries, medical surveillance, and even vaccination programs require organizations to collect health data, which is by nature Protected Health Information. Trying to collect, manage and secure that data on paper or in a spreadsheet is all but impossible. Employers recognize that if they’re going to provide these services, they need the right technology infrastructure in place to manage their data appropriately. That’s where these ACOEM guidelines are extremely helpful. In the United States, the employee health record (EHR) systems hospitals and health systems use go through a rigorous testing and certification process, but those requirements don’t exist for occupational employee health records (OEHRs). If you’re looking for your first OEHR, or looking to replace the one you currently have, the ACOEM guidelines specify the functions and features a system should be able to deliver.
FHT: What are the consequences for organizations that fall out of compliance?
JD: Most employers want to do the right thing, show a commitment to their employees and that they take health and wellbeing seriously. But they also want to avoid unnecessary costs and even liability claims. OSHA issues fines for lack of appropriate reporting and tracking, and they also publish a list of offenders, which is a list no one wants to be on. Other industry-specific accreditations, such as hospital accreditations from the Joint commission, could also be at risk. And on the other side, if your organization isn’t monitoring employees for damaged hearing, for example, and someone’s hearing is dramatically impacted, that could lead to a disability claim or lawsuit, which can get very expensive.
FHT: How can OEHRs that comply with the ACOEM guidelines support employee health and organizational compliance?
JD: In addition to making compliance easier, OEHRs are great at driving efficiency for both employees and employers. User-friendly patient portals enable employees to become active participants in their health care. They can schedule their own appointments, fill out forms and questionnaires on their own time, send secure messages to clinicians, and download test results. On the administrative side, OEHRs that comply with the ACOEM guidelines save time. Self-scheduling means that clinic administrators don’t have to make ten phone calls to get in touch with employees. Automated dynamic forms enter patient data into the OEHR directly, which also removes opportunities for error. Interoperability allows the clinic to reference HR systems, state immunization data, medical devices, or worker’s compensation insurance carriers. After the appointment, the OEHR can automatically send a work status report to the employee and their supervisor. All these features have helped organizations save upwards of 20 minutes on documentation time per appointment, and if you’re doing thousands of those visits each year, that adds up.
FHT: Can you share your thoughts on what comes next for occupational health?
JD: The biggest change is going to be artificial intelligence. AI has the capacity to do a few things. One is to streamline operations. If automation alone can take a 30-minute documentation time down to nine minutes, AI might be able to shorten that to two minutes. Another is to redefine the relationship between clinicians and patients. A common complaint about EHRs and OEHRs is that clinicians spend more time interacting with their computer than with their patients. With AI, instead of typing what they hear, clinicians can have a conversation with the patient, and AI will record and transcribe the conversation, turn it into a clinical note, and populate the OEHR with key data elements like observations, prescriptions, and recommendations.
The other big piece is its ability to help support clinical decisions. Instead of the clinician spending five minutes searching through clinical guidelines, AI can retrieve those in five seconds. Then the doctor has that data at their fingertips, enabling them to make informed judgments more quickly and easily. It’s some of the most groundbreaking technology I’ve seen in a long time.
For more on OEHRs and the new recommendations, find the rest of our occupational health series here .