UI Health Care is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for all members of our community. As we move closer to our “new normal,” our priority is to continue to provide the appropriate level of care for our patients while also enabling all employees to work in a safe manner. We recognize that the threat from COVID-19 is not over, and continues to affect our community in different ways, including how, when, and where many of us are able to work.

Most employees who have been approved for a telecommuting arrangement and have been able to be fully productive and effective offsite will continue to telecommute in the short term. However, those providing patient care or frontline support services for clinical operations will be progressively recalled to return to work onsite as we increase the operations of our hospital and clinics. Staff may also be recalled to staff the Labor Pool. Those staff who have been out of the workplace in “at the ready” status will return to work or be assigned to staff the Labor Pool, or perhaps split time among both their home unit and the Labor Pool. Return to work information for research staff will be outlined in a separate communication.

We have developed a plan to assist employees in understanding the expectations for working at any UI Health Care worksite. The goal is to mitigate the potential for transmission of COVID-19 throughout our facilities, and that requires full cooperation—leaders, administrators, managers, supervisors, faculty, and staff. Only through a cooperative effort can we maintain the safety and health of our community. 

As stated, as part of this plan, we will be transitioning from designating employees as “at the ready.” If meaningful and productive work is not available in one’s current position or through reassignment to the Labor Pool, staff will be required to utilize paid vacation leave or comp time, if applicable, to remain in paid status.

Phase One

Phase One of our plan, effective immediately, will require a number of employees to return to their respective work location (either regularly or intermittently) to effectively complete their work and advance the missions of UI Health Care. Individual clinical units and operational areas have developed plans to have employees return to support increased volumes of clinical and surgical services. Employee screening, social distancing, proper hand hygiene, and personal protective equipment (PPE) standards will continue to be in place. Some categories of employees in Phase One may include:

• Patient care providers and their supporting staff whose responsibilities require their physical presence to sustain clinical operations of the hospital and clinics;
• Staff whose work completion requires their physical presence (e.g., environmental services, maintenance and engineering, etc.);
• Administrative functions that are not otherwise possible while working from home;
• Staff temporarily reassigned to the Labor Pool to fill mission critical functions of the hospital. Staff who decline to participate in the Labor Pool will be required to utilize vacation, accrued compensatory time, or unpaid leave.

Phase Two

Phase Two will include recalling additional staff who have otherwise been allowed to work from home. Accomplishing this may require staggered return dates and flexible scheduling to maintain appropriate social distancing standards. Many meetings and gatherings will likely continue to be conducted virtually. More information on the timing of Phase Two will be communicated at a later date.

This plan will evolve as necessary in response to the public health conditions at UI Health Care and in the community, consistent with guidance from the Iowa Department of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and our UI Health Care experts. We fully expect that, over time, more and more staff will return to their normal work location until we achieve full, in-person operations at a date in the future. UI Health Care leadership will continue to revise this plan and communicate updates to all staff system-wide as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves.

Phase Three

To the greatest extent practicable, Phase Three will be a return to “new normal” with full staff while continuing to make use of telework, innovative scheduling, and other measures to maintain social distancing and flexibility. Target date is July 1, 2020. Additional information to come prior to start.

We appreciate your dedication to our patients, especially during this time. Thank you.

Brooks Jackson, MD, MBA

University of Iowa Vice President for Medical Affairs & the Tyrone D. Artz Dean, Carver College of Medicine

 

Suresh Gunasekaran, MBA

Chief Executive Officer, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics

Associate Vice President, University of Iowa Health Care