Patient Safety and COVID

Office Operation Procedures -Workplace Return (COVID 19)

Updated Dec 4, 2020

Barnes Chiropractic is committed to creating a safe environment for our team and our community. The purpose of this plan is to put into place policy and procedure to minimize the risks associated with contracting COVID-19 or any other infectious diseases as the economy begins to open up and we move from remote work back to the office setting. 

  1. Upon entering the building, all employees, independent contractors and people intending to be treated by a practitioner must sanitize their hands with hand sanitizer approved by Health Canada. 
  1. Patients will not be able to wear gloves into the office unless they are brand new and just put on inside the office. We will not be supplying gloves.
  1. Face masks are mandatory for people entering inside the building. Patients/clients will provide own masks.
  1. Practitioners must follow their respective College and Provincial guidelines with respect to PPE.
  1. Reception staff will be behind a plexiglass barrier and must wear a medical grade face mask.
  1. In accordance with public health regulations employees must fill out the health screening tool prior to entering the office each day. An online tool has been provided by Health Ontario and can be found here. If you answer yes to any of the questions please call our office for further instructions.
  1. If you have travelled out of the province you must isolate for 14 days upon your return unless this restriction is lifted by the government.
  1. Patients are screened prior to arriving to the office through e-mail or phone call. Patients are then screened in person with practitioner and the result is included in the treatment note.
  1. No more than 2 patients/clients will be waiting in the waiting room.
  1. Only one patient in the treatment room at any time unless the patient is a minor, has a disability, or senior requiring assistance.
  1. Reception staff will take payment and submit insurance claims prior to treatment whenever possible. Should the practitioner be waiting for the patient/client this will be done at the end of the visit. Should the reception staff and or patient/client not be sure of rebooking or treatment being received (Acupuncture/Shockwave) billing can occur at the end of the treatment. It is suggested all patients/clients be entered into Telus if possible and saved for the day to speed up this process.
  1. Sanitizing of the front door handles (inner and outer) pens, debit machine if used , door handles and tables will be wiped down using the appropriate cleaner and white re-usable clothe. These are one time use clothes and will be thrown in with laundry with each load. All high tough surfaces will be wiped down twice per day. This will decrease the amount of garbage and decrease cost over the long term. Practitioners will be responsible for sanitizing tables and face cradles.
  1. Take soiled laundry to washer in container labeled dirty laundry. ONLY clean laundry may go into the baskets labelled clean laundry. Soiled laundry will be kept in the closet within the treatment room until laundered. 
  1. Encourage e-mailed receipts whenever possible.
  1. Notes, messages etc. will be shredded when no longer required and will not be stored on the desk or in a basket.
  1. New patient files will be scanned into the computer and uploaded to the digital file immediately and will then be filed. We will not be keeping confidential papers on the desk.
  1. Sick notes and insurance cards will not be photocopied and stored in paper format. Sick notes will be scanned directly into the digital filing system. Insurance cards will be typed directly into the patient files.
  1. All consents/screen will be immediately scanned into files and filed. 
  1. Imaging reports will be directly scanned into patient files and shredded.
  1. End of shift/day procedures require the careful check that all insurance claims have been submitted and all payments have been entered into the system correctly. All payments collected for treatments and the payments match the computer. We will not longer be carrying accounts receivable in the capacity we did. PAYMENT IS DUE AT TIME SERVICE IS RENDERED. This includes a $100 deposit for any patients who have not been at our office before for orthotics.
  1. Filing cabinets and drawers will be locked each evening along with garbages emptied.
  1. Staff not being able to meet these operational changes in the post -COVID 19 time will be disciplined and or terminated.