First Healthcare Compliance CONNECT September 2020

CONNECT 

A Monthly Publication for the Healthcare Compliance Community 

September 2020 

OSHA Recordkeeping 

Compliance for COVID-19 

in the Workplace 

Q&A: How Workplace 

Communication Mitigates 

Harassment 

COVID-19 Healthcare 

Compliance Toolkit 

1st Talk Compliance: Building an 

Engaging Company Culture and 

Avoiding HR Minefields at Work- 

Related Events 

Infographic: 9 Recommendations 

for Title VI Compliance During 

COVID-19 

FAQ Corner 

Upcoming and On-Demand 

Webinars

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HIPAA PRIVACY 

AND SECURITY 

SUMMIT 2020 

NOVEMBER 12, 2020 

In This Issue: 

FAQ Corner 

OSHA Recordkeeping Compliance for COVID-19 in the Workplace 

Q&A: How Workplace Communication Mitigates Harassment 

2 

First Healthcare Compliance, LLC © 2020

Compliance Super Ninja 

Julie Garcia, Business Office Manager 

Coastal Vascular Center 

How would you describe your 

experience with First Healthcare 

Compliance? 

I find that 1st Healthcare Compliance is an easy 

and convenient way to stay on top of the ever 

changing compliance issues we face these days. I appreciate the regular emails, 

keeping me informed of upcoming meetings and also the fact that they meet the requirements 

for my annual CEUs needed to keep my certificate current. 

What do you enjoy most about working with Coastal Vascular Center? 

Coastal Vascular Center consists of three physicians and twelve employees. We have three office 

locations and yet the whole group works as a team. They all respond well to the compliance updates 

and changes. I am fortunate to have such a close knit, caring group of professionals to work with 

every day. May sound cheesy, but it is true! 

Would you rather give up your GPS or your movie streaming service? 

Hmmmmm ...GPS or movies streaming. I think I would rather give up my GPS and keep my movies. 

Many work days feel like we are on the road, GPS guiding, keeping us on track, even though we never 

leave our desks. It’s nice to get lost sometimes, especially in a good movie! I prefer the old classics, 

even though most were made before I was born. 

COVID-19 Healthcare Compliance Toolkit 

Infographic: 9 Recommendations for Title VI Compliance During COVID-19 

1st Talk Compliance: Building an Engaging Company Culture 

and Avoiding HR Minefields at Work-Related Events 

Upcoming and On-Demand Webinars 

Contact Toll Free: 888-54-FIRST 3

FAQ Corner 

Does a telemedicine visit count as an in-person visit to establish a 

serious health condition under the FMLA? 

On July 20, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) added the following guidance to its COVID-19 

related FAQs on the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): 

Due to safety and health concerns related to COVID-19, many health care providers are treating 

patients for a variety of conditions, including those unrelated to COVID-19, via telemedicine. 

Telemedicine involves face-to-face examinations or treatment of patients by remote video conference 

via computers or mobile devices. Under these circumstances, will a telemedicine visit count as an 

in-person visit to establish a serious health condition under the FMLA? 

Yes. Until December 31, 2020, the DOL will consider telemedicine visits to be in-person visits, 

and will consider electronic signatures to be signatures, for purposes of establishing a serious 

health condition under the FMLA. To be considered an in-person visit, the telemedicine visit must 

include an examination, evaluation, or treatment by a health care provider; be performed by video 

conference; and be permitted and accepted by state licensing authorities. This approach serves the 

public’s interest because health care facilities and clinicians around the nation are under advisories 

to prioritize urgent and emergency visits and procedures and to preserve staff personal protective 

equipment and patient-care supplies. 

For further information view the guidance here: 

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla/pandemic#q7 

Explore the FAQs tab in your compliance solution to find 

answers to your compliance questions! 

CLIENT 

ALERT 

4 


9 Recommendations for Title VI 

Compliance During COVID-19 

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects people from discrimination based on race, color or 

national origin in programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance. The Office of Civil 

Rights issued a bulletin providing the following nine recommendations for Title VI compliance during 

COVID-19 to healthcare providers that receive federal financial assistance. 

Adopt policies to prevent and 

address harassment and 

discrimination on the basis of 

race, color, or national origin 

Ensure that Community-Based 

Testing Sites and Alternate Care 

Sites are accessible to racial and 

ethnic minority populations 

Policies and procedures with 

respect to COVID-19 related 

services should not exclude 

or otherwise deny persons 

on the basis of race, color, 

or national origin 

1 2 3 

Individuals from racial and ethnic 

minority groups should not be 

subjected to excessive wait 

times, rejected for hospital 

admissions, or denied access to 

intensive care units compared to 

similarly situated non-minority 

individuals 

Provide ambulance service, 

non-emergency medical 

transportation, and home health 

services to all neighborhoods 

within the recipient's service 

area, without regard to race, 

color, or national origin 

4 5 6 

Select individuals to participate 

as members of a 

planning/advisory body which is 

an integral part of the recipient's 

program, without exclusions on 

the basis of race, color, or 

national origin 

Assign staff, including 

physicians, nurses, and 

volunteer caregivers, without 

regard to race, color, or national 

origin. Recipients should not 

honor a patient's request for a 

same-race physician, nurse, or 

volunteer caregiver 

Assign beds and rooms, 

without regard to race, 

color, or national origin 

7 8 9 

Make available to patients, 

beneficiaries, and customers 

information on how the recipient 

does not discriminate on the 

basis of race, color, or national 

origin in accordance with 

applicable laws and regulations 

Comprehensive Healthcare Compliance 

Management Solutions 

CONFIDENCE INCLUDED 

Creating confidence among compliance 

professionals through education, 

resources, and support 

888.54.FIRST 1sthcc.com 


OSHA Recordkeeping Compliance 

for COVID-19 in the Workplace 

Sheba Vine, JD, CPCO 

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration 

(OSHA) recordkeeping regulations, employers are mandated 

to record serious occupational injuries and illnesses on the 

OSHA 300 Log. COVID-19 is a recordable illness if a worker is 

infected as a result of performing their work-related duties but 

how does an employer determine this? Given the nature of the 

COVID-19 pandemic and the difficulty in determining whether 

transmission of COVID-19 occurred in or outside the workplace, 

OSHA issued guidance to its Compliance Safety and Health 

Officers (CSHOs) in order to evaluate employers’ efforts in 

determining work relatedness of COVID-19 cases. The guidance 

clarifies employer obligations and provides a framework for 

employers to follow when facing a COVID-19 case in the 

workplace. 

When to Record and Report COVID-19 Cases 

Under OSHA’s regulations, employers must record a workrelated 

COVID-19 illness if all of the following apply: 

• The case is a confirmed case of COVID-19, as defined 

by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 

(an individual with at least one respiratory specimen that 

tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes 

COVID-19); 

• The case is work-related as defined by 29 CFR § 1904.5 

(an event or exposure in the work environment either 

caused or contributed to the COVID-19 illness); and 

• The case involves one or more of the general recording 

criteria set forth in 29 CFR § 1904.7( if it results in any 

of the following: death, days away from work, restricted 

work or transfer to another job, medical treatment 

beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, involves a 

significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or 

other licensed health care professional). 

Note that there are two classes of employers that are partially 

exempt from OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements–employers 

with 10 or fewer employees and certain employers in low 

hazard industries (including physicians offices, dentists offices, 

other health practitioners offices, outpatient care centers, 

medical and diagnostic laboratories). 

All employers, including those partially exempt, must report the 

following severe injuries to OSHA: 

• report a COVID-19 illness that results in an in-patient 

hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 

twenty-four hours; 

• report COVID-19 fatality within eight hours. 

Determining if a COVID-19 Case is Work Related 

Once an employer has knowledge of a COVID-19 case, the 

employer is obligated to take the following steps to determine if 

it is a recordable work-related illness: 

Conduct a reasonable investigation into work-relatedness– 

OSHA’s guidance states that employers are not expected to 

undertake extensive medical inquiries, given employee privacy 

concerns. In conducting a reasonable investigation, in most 

cases it is sufficient for the employer to: 

6 


1. Ask the employee how he/she believes the COVID-19 

illness was contracted; 

2. Discuss the employee’s work and out-of-work 

activities that may have led to the COVID-19 illness, 

while respecting the employee’s privacy; and 

3. Review the employee’s work environment for potential 

SARS-CoV-2 exposure; the review should be informed 

by any other instances of workers in that environment 

contracting COVID-19 illness. 

Consider all evidence available to the employer– OSHA 

expects the employer to consider the evidence that a 

COVID-19 illness was work-related based on the information 

reasonably available to the employer at the time it made its 

work-relatedness determination. If the employer learns of 

additional information related to an employee’s COVID-19 

illness at a later date then that information should be taken 

into account as well. 

Consider evidence that a COVID-19 illness was contracted at 

work– In considering all the evidence, OSHA’s guidance states 

that certain types of evidence may weigh in favor of or against 

work-relatedness. Examples of evidence that weigh in favor of 

work-relatedness include: 

• several cases develop among workers who work 

closely together and there is no alternative explanation; 

If the employer cannot determine whether it is more likely 

than not that exposure in the workplace played a causal role 

with respect to a particular case of COVID-19, then according 

to the guidance, the employer does not need to record the 

COVID-19 illness. 

In conclusion, OSHA’s guidance serves as a valuable resource 

for employers and provides the framework for conducting a 

reasonable and good faith investigation in order to comply 

with regulations and more importantly to keep workers 

protected from an outbreak. Use of incident reporting and 

management software helps track and manage these types 

of compliance investigations with real-time visibility. First 

Healthcare Compliance’s cloud based software solution 

offers these tools plus more when it comes to meeting your 

healthcare compliance needs. Visit our website to learn more 

about our comprehensive compliance management solution 

for healthcare providers and explore our blogs for informative 

articles. 


Compliance Updates 

• the illness is contracted shortly after lengthy, close 

exposure to a particular customer or coworker who 

has a confirmed case of COVID-19 and there is no 

alternative explanation; or 

• the employee’s job duties include having frequent, close 

exposure to the general public in a locality with ongoing 

community transmission and there is no alternative 

explanation. 

Evidence that weighs against work-relatedness include: 

• the employee is the only worker to contract COVID-19 

in his/her vicinity and the employee’s job duties don’t 

include frequent contact with the general public, 

regardless of the rate of community spread; or 

• the employee, outside the workplace, closely and 

frequently associates with someone (such as a family 

member, significant other, or close friend) who 1) has 

COVID-19; 2) is not a coworker, and 3) exposes the 

employee during the period in which the individual is 

likely infectious. 

In response to the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus 

disease (COVID-19), the Secretary of Health and Human 

Services declared a public health emergency on January 31, 

2020. Federal agencies have taken action by issuing updates 

and guidance to navigate the crisis. This ebook provides 

healthcare providers with important developments and 

resources that impact federal healthcare laws. 

Download Now 


Q&A: How Workplace 

Communication Mitigates 

Harassment 

Catherine Short 

Warren Cook BS, MBA, MS, SHRM-certified of 

SymbianceHR, will be presenting the webinar How 

Workplace Communication Mitigates Harassment 

on September 22 at 12 pm ET. In anticipation of this 

webinar, Warren answered many commonly asked 

questions on our blog in relation to communication 

and harassment in the workplace: 

Why do you relate communication as a key 

problem to harassment in the workplace? 

The lack of respectful communication and appreciation 

for diversity of thought leads to behaviors that evolves 

into harassment. Without the development of respectful 

communication intent versus impact can be lost, 

providing others dignity and respect is absent and 

the establishment of trust is non-existent. When this 

communication breakdown happens, individuals will 

allow their biases to surface and influence how they 

interpret their environment and the reasons why things 

happen. As a result, they begin to communicate in a 

negative manner without respect for others which can 

often lead to comments and behaviors unacceptable in 

the workplace that manifest into harassing behavior. 

You touched the topic of inclusion during the 

presentation, I thought that had to do with 

diversity – can you clarify? 

Inclusion is often aligned with Diversity and is well 

recognized in recent years as a two-part process 

of establishing a more effective workplace. This is 

true however in the context of communication and 

harassment prevention, I believe that the improvement 

of communication in the workplace to include respect, 

dignity and diversity of thought requires people to be 

inclusive of other people’s ideas and contributions. 

The clarifying factor in this context is the inclusion 

has nothing to do with protected characteristics such 

as gender, race, national origin or sexual preference. 

Instead the inclusion is based on encouraging 

communication and engagement across functions, 

departments, units and teams to raise the level of 

engagement across the entire workforce. Training 

on this type of inclusion leads to civil and equitable 

treatment of all people outside the scope of diversity 

alone however still addresses the ability to mitigate the 

risk and liability of harassment in the workplace. 

Why do you believe leadership involvement 

is so important to mitigating harassment, 

employees often harass each other and not 

managers? 

The ability to model the behavior you expect from 

others is critical for a leader. To create followership 

and earn the respect from the workforce to follow 

the leader requires the leaders in the organization 

8 


to be visible, involved, and participate across the 

organization in the communication and engagement 

activities of the employees. By leader, I mean anyone 

in the organization with intrinsic or extrinsic authority 

to influence actions and behaviors hence impacting 

the culture. This expectation goes beyond just the 

C-Suite, it is every leader in the organization needs to 

understand their responsibility to model the appropriate 

behaviors and style of communication to respect others 

and build trust. 

Communication is important – how 

specifically could my business start to 

improve trust in the workplace? 

My advice is to start where you can apply some minor 

adjustments to have critical impact immediately. 

Therefore, train your supervisors and people leaders 

on how to engage their staff members during one-onone 

meetings to ask “What else could I be doing as 

your supervisor to help you be more successful in your 

role.” This question requires the supervisor to listen 

to the reply, be genuine and authentic in their desire 

to help their employees, and they must be willing to 

make changes in how they work to achieve success for 

both the employee and themselves. If the supervisor 

does this effectively, engagement improves, trust 

builds, performance and productivity will increase as 

will employee morale. This approach can produce a 

quick win while applying other strategies and practices 

to improve communication in the workplace that will 

ultimately reduce your risk and liability related to 

harassment. 

Warren is the president and co-founder of 

SymbianceHR as well as the Chief Talent Officer and 

cofounder of SymbianceHiRe and provides strategic 

oversight for service delivery, business operations, and 

technical guidance on consulting engagements. He is 

a human resources subject matter expert with over 

20 years of experience as a strategic business partner, 

project manager, and people leader across private and 

public sectors organizations. 

Be sure to register for Warren’s upcoming webinar 

on September 22nd How Workplace Communication 

Mitigates Harassment and check out our other HR 

resources, such as our online compliance training 

courses in the Basics of Family Medical Leave Act 

(FMLA) and Preventing and Addressing Workplace 

Harassment and Bullying. Plus, listen to our latest 

podcast with Warren. And check out Warren’s other 

blogs, Demonstrating the ROI of HR for your Business, 

Q&A: Got Diversity. Get Inclusion! and the Pending 

FLSA Changes, and webinars, Risk Management of 

Employment Practices, Got Diversity Get Inclusion and 

pending FLSA Changes, and Avoiding HR Issues at 

Company Events & Building an Engaging Culture, now 

on YouTube. 

Navigating Workplace Violence 

Prevention Under OSHA 

Workplace violence is a serious issue, especially in healthcare facilities. The 

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) responded in 2015 by updating 

and publishing their guidelines on how to best prevent workplace violence. The OSHA 

workplace violence prevention guidelines help employees and employers alike by 

providing the necessary steps to maintain a safe work environment. 

DOWNLOAD NOW 



Compliance Toolkit 

Healthcare compliance amidst COVID-19 presents new challenges for 

hospitals and healthcare providers. At top importance is the question of how 

to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19, while ensuring that your organization 

stays compliant. 

Now more than ever, your compliance department needs to have the necessary tools to help track, analyze, 

and respond to compliance challenges. To help navigate the process, we’ve gathered our best COVID-19 

resources below. If you need further assistance, please contact us here. 

VIEW TOOLKIT 

10 


The most comprehensive 

healthcare compliance course 

The Fundamentals is a user-friendly, four-module online course designed to help 

healthcare professionals understand the essential principles and practices of 

compliance. 

Written by our “dream team” of healthcare providers and attorneys, The 

Fundamentals course is packed with useful, easy-to-understand information that 

covers HIPAA, OSHA, employment law and enforcement of federal healthcare laws. 

The course takes less than four hours to complete, and the modules can be viewed 

in any order. A certificate of course completion is provided following successful 

completion of the online course and exam. 

The Compliance Certification Board (CCB)® has approved this event for up to 4.0 

nonlive CCB CEUs. Continuing Education Units are awarded based on individual 

attendance records. Granting of prior approval in no way constitutes endorsement 

by CCB of this event content or of the event sponsor. 

BUY COURSE NOW 

HIPAA Privacy and Security 

First Healthcare Compliance HIPAA Privacy and Security is a user-friendly 

resource designed to help healthcare, administrative, and compliance 

professionals, whether they serve as a covered entity or a business associate, 

better understand their compliance responsibilities under the Health Insurance 

Portability and Accountability Act. The book explains HIPAA privacy, security, 

enforcement and breach notification in plain language, and provides a 

comprehensive checklist that entities can use to get their compliance efforts 

off the ground. 

BUY BOOK NOW 


hosted by Catherine Short 

Catherine Short speaks with Warren Cook President and Co-Founder of SymbianceHR on the topic 

of “Building an Engaging Company Culture and Avoiding HR Minefields at Work-Related Events.” 

Company culture is a factor that can lead to sustained success or unexpected failure. For this reason, 

leadership should pay special attention to the design, development, implementation and management 

of company culture to ensure it is sustainable and beneficial to the business. This episode will review 

the concept of business culture, explain the various constructs that form these standards, and provide 

strategies to improve workforce engagement to support the desired values for your business. We will also 

identify employment practice risks and liabilities when planning company-sponsored events to ensure you 

consider critical factors as you plan these inclusive events for your company. 

Listen weekdays at 

7:30am, 3:30pm, 11:30pm ET 

Check out our Show Page! 

Looking for the latest compliance insights? 

Subscribe to our feed and don’t miss a thing! 

12 


WORD SEARCH 

H I P A A E T X N S N A I C I S Y H P X 

A P R O F E S S I O N A L S J F W I Y K 

P I F H D J J I E M E R G E N C Y T Y U 

U W D F V O S I E B F Z Y N V X S N J E 

H C T N E M E G A N A M O I F M M U A F 

R W J K D C B F E C E R A C H T L A E H 

L N R O S H Z A K X D C H I J S H P Y F 

G U X P Q T N W C E O G N D O E C S Y F 

K D V R W E A J L N A D P E C C L V T V 

Y A J I W Z O N V U L D C M J U G C P W 

H R U V S D K E D G Y L F E F R U O K L 

T C P A I Q N A A A T F M L R I J M R E 

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SUMMIT CONVENIENT PRACTICE 


Upcoming and On-Demand Webinars 

Training 

SEPT 22, 2020 

OCT 6, 2020 

OCT 20, 2020 

NOV 5, 2020 

ON DEMAND 

ON DEMAND 

How Workplace Communication Mitigates 

Harassment 

Why are Security & Governance for Health Data 

Analytics Vital? 

HIPAA: A Timely Overview & Update 

Vendor Management In Healthcare: The High Cost 

of Failing to Triage Your Vendors 

Federal Healthcare Fraud and Abuse Framework 

Diagnosis Coding: The Cost of One and Done 

Register 

Register 

Register 

Register 

All Upcoming Webinars 

All On Demand Webinars 

NEW FEATURES! 

Training Zone - New required training modules have been added titled “Fraud 

Waste and Abuse Training” and “General Compliance Training”. These modules replace the 

CMS training materials. 

Employee Zone - A Notes button has been added to the HepB Vaccination Status section. 

OSHA Zone - To assist with successfully completing your assessment embedded links to 

Resources have been added. 

New COVID-19 Resource section available from the dashboard for 1st Performance, 1st 

Professional, and 1st Premium. 

CLIENT 

ALERT 

Join us on Social Media! 

Contact our Client Services Team with your questions! 

888.54.FIRST or clientservices@1sthcc.com 

14

First Healthcare Compliance CONNECT September 2020

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