Northeast Georgia Health System has worked to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate set forth by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
All NGHS employees are required to get vaccinated under the CMS mandate. Facilities that do not comply with the mandate are at risk of losing Medicare or Medicaid payment, according to the CMS.
Sean Couch, executive director of communications and consumer strategy for NGHS, said employees were required to receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by Monday, Feb. 14, 2022.
"Ultimately, our leadership team sat down and said, as we navigate this, we're going to do it with one guiding principle in mind, and that ... is we want to keep as many of our employees here and working as possible, and to work with them to help them make the decision that's right for them," Couch said.
Couch said NGHS went into the Feb. 14 deadline with 35 or fewer employees who had an unverified vaccination status. He said this means NGHS was either unaware of their vaccination status, or they had not received the COVID-19 vaccine. Following the deadline, NGHS was down to less than 10 employees with unverified vaccination status.
"I say 10 employees, but it's a mix of folks who are currently employed, and some of those who are currently being onboarded as new hires," Couch said. "We're still digging through some nuance."
NGHS is moving toward the suspension of employees who have not complied with the mandate.
The health system has also had to start considering vaccination status when hiring new employees, something which Couch said has made a strained hiring process even more difficult.
"It has put a little bit of a strain on what's already been a tough hiring environment for hospitals and health systems as a result of the pandemic," Couch said.
Recruiters are proactively asking new candidates about their vaccination status as they come in. Couch said NGHS was looking to fill a variety of roles across a plethora of departments.
