Friday, November 13, 2015

Immunization Records - Vaccine Requirements in the HIT Industry

More and more we are seeing requirements from Healthcare IT Clients for up-to-date vaccinations.  This has caused issues with new hire on-boarding / start dates and a consultant's ability to get hired.

Regardless of your feelings on vaccines and immunizations, there are going to be stricter requirements in the HIT Consulting industry.  For someone that does not have their immunization record you will be required to have a titer run by your physician to determine if you are lacking any of the necessary immunizations.  If you are missing any of the required vaccinations you will need to receive them prior to your start date OR present a letter from your physician as to why you are unable to receive the vaccine(s).  With many employers these requirements will hold true even for consultants / employees that are working remotely or never come in contact with the patient population.

To date; candidates have removed themselves from consideration due to these regulations and many have had to push back their start date after being unable to produce their vaccine records immediately.  If you have to have a titer run it can take days to receive the information back from a lab and then additional time to get back into your physician to get up to date on the necessary vaccines. 

Due to the fact that most employers are moving to require vaccination records prior to hire, it is extremely beneficial to have your complete vaccination record ready to present when necessary.  By going and gathering that information now, proactively, it can save a consultant huge headaches, time and potential loss of an engagement by making sure their immunizations are up-to-date and by having the documentation on hand.