More Than Just the Flu: Vaccination Management Strategies for a Healthier Workplace 

It’s that time of the year again, when employers rally together to host annual flu vaccination clinics across their workplaces. It is estimated that influenza costs the U.S. over $80 billion annually and the impact on business productivity is massive  ¹. Seasonal flu in the U.S. results in approximately 111 million lost workdays per year and costs employers ².  

The good news is that voluntary vaccinations through workplace clinics or via offsite health providers have been proven highly effective at reducing the risk of sickness, lessening productivity losses due to illness-related absence, and lowering the burden on the healthcare system.  

But in the field of occupational health (OH), delivering flu shots is just one small aspect of a larger strategy to optimize workplace health and safety during the fall and winter months. In this blog, we will explore how effective vaccination program management not only helps businesses quickly adapt to changing conditions while maintaining healthy workplaces, but also ensures robust compliance to standards and regulations. 

The Business Value in Reducing Flu Transmission  

Getting employees vaccinated against seasonal flu has been shown to significantly reduce employee absenteeism rates at the workplace. Moreover, workplace promotion programs that advocate for voluntary flu vaccinations have lowered the risk of flu transmission in both occupational and non-occupational settings. Studies show that flu vaccines can prevent 59% of flu cases in healthy adults ³. 

While the flu shots remain crucial to many workplace health initiatives, effective vaccination program management goes beyond seasonal flu prevention. Different industries require tailored vaccination strategies to address specific workplace hazards and on-the-job risk exposures.  

Overcoming Vaccination Management Program Challenges 

Comprehensive vaccination management programs have their share of hurdles, and logistical challenges, from data security to employee engagement: 

• Compliance with evolving regulations: Occupational Health professionals are constantly forced to adapt their vaccination management programs to changing regulatory requirements. OH professionals must monitor existing regulations on a regular basis. The requirement to identify, review and assess the impact of regulatory changes, and then update organizational policies, retrain staff, or collect new data and submit data aligned to new reporting deadlines is resource consuming.  

• Tracking and documentation:  Tracking employee vaccination data, including vaccination dates and types, while ensuring there are no allergy contraindications, is essential yet challenging for large organizations. During vaccination events, high employee volumes and fast-paced environments often lead to the use of paper documentation. The reliance on paper-based processes not only slows down record-keeping but also increases the risk of errors, leading to inefficiencies and potential compliance concerns. 

• Logistical coordination and inventory management: Managing vaccination programs across multiple work locations, or for a hybrid workforce, presents significant logistical challenges. OH professionals must ensure accurate tracking and management of vaccine inventories to prevent critical issues like expired vaccines, missed doses, and frustrated employees. Without proper oversight, vaccines can expire before use, leading to waste, or there may be insufficient supply when and where it’s needed, causing delays in employee vaccinations. 

• Data security and privacy: Managing sensitive employee health information, especially during vaccination events, is a complex task that demands strict adherence to data security and privacy regulations like HIPAA. When relying on paper charts, safeguarding personal health data becomes more difficult, increasing the risk of breaches, unauthorized access, and even loss or damage to records. These paper-based systems lack protections, making it harder to ensure the confidentiality and security of employee health information. 

• Employee communication and engagement: Effectively informing a large workforce about vaccination schedules, requirements, and benefits can take time and effort. Necessary details may only reach some in time, causing some employees to miss vaccination opportunities. Participation can drop, increasing the risk of organizational health issues when communication isn’t clear. Employees may delay or avoid signing up for vaccinations if the registration process is complicated. 

The Role of Digital Tools & Automation in Vaccination Management Programs 

To effectively navigate these challenges, organizations should seek guidance by consulting the CDC’s Best Practices Checklist for workplace vaccination programs. 

In addition to following best practices, organizations can achieve significant time and cost savings while boosting workforce participation in vaccination programs by utilizing OH software platforms, particularly those equipped with pre-built vaccination management tools. These software solutions provide a range of benefits, including: 

• Designing automated clinical workflows: Automating reminders for upcoming vaccination appointments can greatly cut down on the number of missed appointments OH clinics experience. Configurable OH software with built-in business rules offers the ability to send notifications automatically to employees with forthcoming appointments. It removes the need for clinical staff to manually reach out to employees or their supervisors.  

• Efficient charting efforts: By adopting OH software solutions and efficient clinical documentation components, healthcare providers can concentrate on administering vaccinations rather than handling paperwork. Features like intuitive drop-down menus and pre-set templates make charting employee health data faster and more accurate, which helps minimize errors that could impact regulatory compliance.  

• Secure Health Data Privacy: With custom permissions in robust OH tools, administrators can control access to ensure only authorized clinicians can view detailed employee health records.  Temporary staff assisting with vaccination events to support the volume of employees vaccinated are limited to viewing only the essential information needed to support the vaccination process, maintaining privacy while efficiently handling high employee volumes. 

• Optimizing vaccine inventory management: OH software helps manage vaccine supplies through features like barcode scanning. Health professionals can quickly log the vaccine details into an employee’s health record by scanning the vaccine while the system automatically updates the clinic’s inventory. Notifications can be set up to alert Administrators when the stock is running low, prompting them to reorder. Early notifications ensure the clinic maintains enough vaccination supplies, helping prevent disruptions in the vaccination process and minimizing excess inventory. 

• Enhancing decision-making with improved data visibility: OH software can help quickly analyze vaccination data and gain insights to help organizations make decisions and address potential compliance or new emerging diseases, promptly. OH teams can use the data collected from the OH software solution to create reports for leaders, highlighting the right vaccination strategies to manage risks and prevent illnesses like the flu from impacting operations.  

• Improving employee engagement: OH software solutions provide several features to boost employee engagement with vaccination programs. Studies show that employee participation rates in health and wellness programs can increase by 5% to 10% when digital mobile solutions offer these services ⁴. Employees can book their vaccine appointments at times and places that work best for them and submit their health history ahead of time, through mobile solutions streamlining the process. Mobile solutions give employees access to view and track their medical records, including their vaccination status, boosting engagement and keeping employees updated on their health. 

Case Study: Discover how one of Cority’s customers, a large academic medical center, successfully vaccinated 87.5% of voluntary employees in its COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Read more here. 

Five Best Practices for Implementing Workplace Vaccination Management Programs 

Given the challenges and the potential of digital tools to solve them, below are six takeaways to help OH & EHS practitioners implement and manage smart workplace vaccination management programs: 

1. Develop a comprehensive vaccine policy: Outline clear guidelines for vaccination requirements, timelines, and exemptions. Ensure the policy is communicated effectively to all employees and updated regularly.  
2. Engage employees early and often: Launch communication campaigns before vaccine events to educate employees on the benefits and address concerns. Utilize an OH solution to reach workforces across multiple channels, including emails and text messages, ensuring consistent messaging. 
3. Leverage data analytics for informed decisions: Use data tracked by an OH solution to identify trends, track participation rates, and adjust strategies as needed. Analyze past vaccine uptake to predict future needs and allocate resources efficiently. 
4. Streamline logistics and coordination: Rely on an OH solution to manage scheduling, track inventory, and oversee vaccine distribution. Automated scheduling and inventory management features can ensure a smooth, efficient vaccination process, reducing administrative burden and minimizing errors. 
5. Ensure accessibility for all employees: Accommodate all employees’ schedules by offering vaccinations during work hours and at multiple locations. Utilize an OH solution’s mobile capabilities to allow employees to book appointments and complete health questionnaires ahead of time. Consider mobile clinics or onsite events for remote or dispersed teams to ensure everyone has easy access. 

Final Thoughts 

A well-structured vaccination program is essential for maintaining workplace health and safety, especially in environments where employees face significant exposure risks. By implementing the five best practices and leveraging the capabilities of OH software, organizations can overcome the complexities of vaccination management programs and stay current with evolving regulations. 

To learn about Cority’s Vaccination Management tool, book a demo with us. 

Sources 

¹ 6 Ways Flu Season Impacts Employees. https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/emerging-issues/6-ways-flu-season-impacts-employees 

² The annual impact of seasonal influenza in the US: Measuring disease burden and costs. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264410X07003854 

³  Influenza vaccination rates among healthcare workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis investigating influencing factors. Accessed at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10657874/ 

⁴ Harvey, M. Can Technology Drive Engagement in Wellness Programs? Accessed at:  https://hero-health.org/blog/can-technology-drive-engagement-in-wellness-programs/