New OSHA Standard to Disrupt Healthcare Workforce Management

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) is urging the US Department of Labor (DOL) to rescind or delay its COVID-19 healthcare emergency temporary standard (ETS), suggesting that the guidance will just add confusion to healthcare workforce management at this stage in the pandemic.

The MGMA maintained that the requirements under the ETS simply echo practices that healthcare employers have already had in place over the past year, and the guidance may have arrived too little, too late.

The ETS was issued by the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in June to protect healthcare workers from the dangers of COVID-19. The ETS established new requirements for healthcare employers, including conducting hazard assessments and providing employees with N95 respirators when necessary.

OSHA’s ETS, which went into effect on June 21st, also requires covered employers to provide workers with adequate paid time off to get the COVID-19 vaccine and recover from side effects. In addition, employers are required to develop a written plan to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and set up barriers between employees when social distancing is not feasible.

"Too many of our frontline healthcare workers continue to be at high risk of contracting the coronavirus," said US Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh in an OSHA press release.

"This standard follows the science, and will provide increased protections for those whose health is at heightened risk from coronavirus while they provide us with critical healthcare services. Given the pace of vaccinations, this standard, along with the guidance OSHA, the CDC and other agencies have released, will help us protect frontline healthcare workers and end this pandemic once and for all."

Despite OSHA’s intentions to provide additional safeguards for healthcare employees impacted by COVID-19, MGMA expressed concerns over the implementation of the ETS and how it might disrupt healthcare workforce management.

In a June 30th letter to Secretary Walsh, the MGMA urged the DOL to “rescind the ETS, or at a minimum, delay its effective date until stakeholders, such as MGMA, have adequate opportunity to provide input on the standard.”

From the MGMA’s point of view, health systems and administrators have been working hard since the onset of the pandemic to protect employees from the dangers of COVID-19. From providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) safety guidelines, healthcare employers across the country have been consistently looking out for their employees, the MGMA asserted.

“Implementing a new layer of requirements at this late stage of the public health emergency (PHE) is duplicative, confusing, and will divert time and resources away from patient care,” the letter stated.

“Moreover, the ETS will hold physician practices to a standard on which they were denied the opportunity to provide feedback, before being required to comply. MGMA believes the protocols medical groups have had in place for over a year already fulfill the spirit of what the ETS is trying to achieve.”

In addition to providing PPE and developing mitigation plans, employers covered by the ETS will also be required to administer training to its employees on preventing COVID-19 transmission, establish a log of all employee COVID-19 cases, and screen employees daily for symptoms.

However, most health systems have had similar procedures in place since the beginning of the pandemic, making this measure potentially confusing and difficult to implement. MGMA argues that the ETS, despite its good intentions, could make navigating the pandemic even more confusing for health systems already struggling to keep COVID-19 at bay.

“While we appreciate that the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is attempting to protect healthcare workers through the COVID-19 healthcare emergency temporary standard (ETS), we believe the ETS was issued much too late and as a result, will disrupt the ongoing efforts of medical groups to balance the needs of patients against the imperative to protect employees,” the MGMA concluded.