Question: According to the definition, “Health care personnel includes all paid and unpaid persons serving in health care settings who have the potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or infectious materials.” Does this include those that work in administration, accounting, HR, etc. in a health care setting. These groups do not technically have direct/indirect exposure to patients or infections materials. Would this definition still include them since they are employed by the facility?
Answer: DSEWG response: If an employee works in administration, accounting, HR, etc. in a health care setting but does not have the potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or infectious materials, then they do not meet the definition of “health care personnel” for the purpose of reporting data for vaccination administration.
Question: Are hospitals supposed to report employee vaccinations if they were not completed at their hospital? Smaller hospitals may not have the vaccine yet, but they have sent their staff to other neighboring facilities (hospitals, local health departments, physician offices, etc.) to receive the vaccine. Do they need to report this data?
Answer: DSEWG response: Where the vaccine was administered is not relevant for 42-45. It is asking about their vaccine status regardless of where the vaccine was given. The hospital should report data for measures 41-47 weekly for HCP in their facility. Measure 41 is an operational count, whereas fields 42-45 are about the status of employees regardless of where they are vaccinated.
Question: Is measure 41 asking for the number of doses the facility itself administered to HCP, or are they to count personnel vaccinated at another location?
Answer: This field is tracking the number of administered COVID-19 vaccine doses by the facility for their HCP. As long as it is administered by the facility for that facility’s HCP, it doesn’t matter where it was administered (e.g., if there is a community clinic for staff where the facility is administering shots, then it should be counted).
Question: For measure 42, does this include staff who want to receive the vaccine but have not yet been given any doses, or all staff regardless of whether they want the vaccine or not?
Answer: Whether or not staff want the vaccine does not impact the value in this section. This field should include staff who have not received any COVID-19 vaccine.
Question: Does “health care personnel” include physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants who are credentialed with us but not employed by us?
Answer: Paid or unpaid HCP who serve in health care settings and have the potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or infectious materials should be included.
