An unintended consequence of COVID-19 safety procedures has been a surge in trash, from face masks to gloves to, now, the discarded syringes and needles from COVID-19 vaccines. If laid end to end, the needles from the number of vaccine doses needed to inoculate the entire U.S. population—about 660 million—would create enough waste to wrap around the Earth 1.8 times, according to OnSite Waste Technologies, a medical waste disposal company. It’s certainly worthwhile trash to […]
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Tanveer Adyel began to notice the trash in March. This was early in the COVID-19 pandemic. He saw latex gloves and blue, disposable masks littering his garden and street. Other types of personal protective equipment, or PPE, including face shields, were also among the trash. Soon, he spotted lots of thin plastic bags from grocery stores. Those bags had been banned in his state the previous year. Adyel is an engineer at Monash University in […]
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The ramping up of vaccination for COVID-19 comes with rising concerns about bloodborne pathogen (BBP) exposure for vaccinators and the need for personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as steps to prevent needlestick injuries and other BBP program requirements. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that staff members at vaccination sites be provided with eye protection like goggles or face shields, gloves, and procedure face masks, but the federal PPE requirements for […]
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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA is a challenging Act for thousands of companies in the United States. It sets the standard for sensitive patient data protection in the country. If your organization deals with sensitive healthcare data, ensuring HIPAA compliance is vital. In December 2020, the HHS had found organizations non-compliant with HIPAA in 69% of its investigations. So, even though compliance with the Act is time-consuming, it is also vital. […]
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HHS’ Office for Civil Rights will not impose penalties for potential HIPAA violations of healthcare providers and their business associates who use online or web-based scheduling applications to coordinate COVID-19 vaccine appointments. Five Details ONE: OCR on Jan. 19 announced its enforcement discretion, which is effective immediately and has a retroactive date of Dec. 11, 2020. TWO: The enforcement discretion aims to help speed up the vaccination process for HIPAA-covered entities, which must quickly schedule […]
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The increase in the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) and its use during the COVID-19 pandemic has produced a corresponding burden on the other end: a rise in medical waste as institutions dispose of gowns, gloves, masks, face shields and shoe covers that have been exposed to the virus. Are there different waste disposal requirements for COVID-19-contaminated PPE? How should your pharmacy and institution be handling this kind of waste? “While we have not […]
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Medical waste materials are highly dangerous, and they must be treated with the utmost care. The health care system is integral to the well-being of a country. Hospitals, clinics, diagnostic laboratories, pharmacies, and other similar institutions all work together to ensure everyone is in good health. But keeping us in tip-top shape does have a toll on the environment, and public health and safety. As health workers strive to keep everyone healthy, these health care […]
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This landmark law imposes stringent privacy and security mandates on health care providers—and most of their IT vendors. HIPAA summary: What is HIPAA? HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is a law passed in 1996 that transformed many of the ways in which the healthcare industry operated in the United States. The law had many important and far-reaching effects, but from the perspective of IT pros, its most important provisions are mandates that […]
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As the country ramps up with administering the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine, questions are beginning to arise about disposing of waste from vaccine administration. The following represent general recommendations for managing waste from administering the SAR-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine. In general, disposal of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine related wastes should follow the same processes for other vaccine related wastes. However, not all states are the same – if a state has more stringent requirements than described below, follow […]
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Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic through Dec. 3, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued citations arising from 263 inspections for violations relating to the coronavirus, resulting in proposed penalties of more than $3.5 million, the DOL said in a Dec. 11 press release. Inspections have led the agency to cite employers for failures to: implement a written respiratory protection program; provide workers with a respirator fit […]
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