Health Impact Assessment is a process that have a role in evaluating the health impacts of a project, plan or policy before implementation. It is composed of six steps includes screening, scoping, assessment, recommendations, reporting, monitoring and evaluation (Health Vermont, 2015).
Paid sick leaves mean the worker got paid for his/her time off job due to a disease, or caring for ill dependent, or routine medical appointments. The goal of paid sick leave to make sure the workers do not lose their job or income
Screening
It’s appropriate for health impact assessment to require employers to pay employers for sick time, the paid sick leave is required because it has many positive health impacts, the sick workers need the leave from work to
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The health impact assessment would have an impact on decision making.
Resource available are Human Impact Partners, Labor Project for Working Families, Work and Family
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Also decrease transmission of communicable disease in the community, and decrease transmission of food borne disease in restaurants, decrease loss of job and health insurance among workers.
The practical recommendations to improve the health consequences of paid sick leaves are
- Implement and encourage data surveillance systems to know paid sick leaves impacts
- Providing assistance to the companies and businesses that provided paid sick leaves to the workers.
- Creating communication campaigns to increase the positive health impacts of paid sick leaves by enhancing use of paid sick leave.
- Providing technical assistance to the workers who want to implement paid sick leave through flexible staffing, payroll systems, and proper use of paid sick leave (Health Vermont, 2015).
Reporting
Includes comprehensive documentation of health impact assessment process, analysis and finding, stakeholders should review finding and comments, and delivery of recommendations to the decision-makers (Human impact,
In the planning process, the health care organization’s first step should be to identify alternative expense reduction measures that can be implemented. Marshall and Broas (2009) and McConnell (2006) state that measures such as hiring freezes, reduced work hours, reduced salaries or bonuses, early retirement, limited use of temporary workers and discrepancy spending should be explored first before resorting to mass reduction in the workforce. Given the numerous legal cases in which employees have accused companies of lavish spending during layoff processes, a company should consider taking expense reduction measures. This would show that the company had explored another alternative before resorting to a RIF, and it would also help employers dismiss employees claims that the RIF was not necessary or discriminatory ( Marshall & Broas,2009) .Whatever alternative expense reduction measures were taken by the company along with the reasons for doing so should also be documented( Marshall & Broas,2009).Documenting the reason for the RIF, should be the next step.
Providing health care for all workers and their families is a very good way to improve the benefit that workers receive for the worst forms of work to render workers less vulnerable, and to express social and communal respect for them.
The cost and administrative burden of providing health care benefits to employees has grown rapidly in the last several years, and organizations have opted to cheaper means of doing this by resorting to CDHPs programs that are little bit cheaper when using deductible health insurance plans. This has led to the hope of healthier generation in the near future as the cost of health services would be manageable (Buntin, Damberg, Haviland & Kapur, 2006).
... to measure governmental performance around the world in meeting the needs of working families. To complete the index, data was gathered from 177 countries that represent a wide range of political, social and economic systems. Their findings revealed that 137 countries mandate paid annual leave, including 121 countries that guarantee 2 weeks or more each year. In contrast, the United States does not require employers to provide paid annual leave. In addition, at least 145 countries provide paid sick days for short- or long-term illnesses, with 136 providing a week or more annually. More than 81 countries provide sickness benefits for at least 26 weeks or until recovery. The US provides only unpaid leave for serious illnesses through the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act 0f 1993), which does not cover all workers. More information on this can be found in appendix.
Another way Hospitals reduces cost of medical staff is by hiring per diem employees. Per Diem employees are not considered full-time emp...
The steady rise of healthcare costs and the ever increasing cost of health insurance premiums are making it harder and harder for employers to pay healthcare premiums for their employees. In the past, it was almost a given that employers picked up the tab for health insurance coverage. The health coverage was usually exceptional with little or no money paid out of pocket by the individual for the insurance premiums. Those appear to be the “good old days”, with fewer and fewer employers shelling out money for health insurance premiums and demanding a larger percentage to be paid by the employee. Other employers are simply unable to financially provide healthcare coverage for their employees and have stopped all together.
McLaughlin, C. & McLaughlin, C. (2008). Health Policy Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
The main focus of this model is the assessment of local needs, priorities, resources, and its circumstances (Wright et al., 2006). The model was applied to the creation of The Compass Strategy campaign via the application of the nine phases of the Precede-Proceed Model. The assessment process (phases 1-5) focused on the identification, prevalence and manipulability of health determinants (including causal relationships). The important targets identified in these phases were then used to develop interventions (phase 6), which were then evaluated for effectiveness (phases 7-9). A visual representation of the phases aforementioned was created to illustrate the interactions between the phases and to provide an overview of the Model’s role in the campaign. (Refer to image
Serxner, Gold, Anderson & Williams (2001). The impact of a worksite health promotion program on short-term disability usage. J Occup, Eviron Med, 43(1).
Engaging employees and families in healthy work programs, regular check-ups and illness prevention strategies are smart investments.
Other benefits aligned with paid time off is sick leave awarded in 4 hour increments per pay period with no limit on accruals. Employees may use this time to attend medical appointments for themselves and dependents. The sick leave bank is also used for bereavement (up to 5 days) and funeral (up to 3 days) time off when unfortunate deaths occur.
An employee may find that their healthcare plan is provided by their employer and as such may find that even though their payment sums may be hefty, their employer may be paying even more. In a recent survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 30% of the cost for a doctor’s visit or family plan will be covered by the worker; therefore, the other 70% is then covered by the employer’s finances. With the average family health plan cost on the rise at $18,142, it may be a bit clearer as to why companies are searching for any means to lower this expense (Kaiser 2016). A corporate wellness program pitch loaded with quality statistics on the importance of preventative measures to effectively dodge physician bills then commodifies wellness as the straightforward answer to the issue of hefty expenditures. However, a substantial payment is not the only deterrent from seeking standardized
Illness is a big issue when it comes to employees being absent at work. It is important for all employers to allow specific sick leave for all employees, regardless of position. If an employer didn't offer sick leave, they would increase health problems and the spread of illness, thereby lowering productivity and morale. Despite the pressure for perfect attendance to improve customer service and efficiency, employees need reasonable sick leave programs for security and overall high performance.
To reiterate these six components, which are innovation, technical package, communication, management, and political commitment – the community is hand in hand associated with core functions of Public Health. In Public Health the three main core functions are assessment, policy development, and assurance. Assessment is a tool that helps monitors different health and environmental statutes to create, deploy, and identify solutions. It also used a diagnostic tool to investigate health-related problems and different health hazards. Policy development is an act of informing and educating those developed ideas and topics that help the communities and different organizations in their health care efforts. Lastly, assurance utilizes different laws and regulations to help in the aid of protecting the public or environment at risk. It also re-evaluates the laws and regulations to see its effectiveness and its quality (Schneider,
These impacts are assessed based on many components such as environmental, socio-economic, cultural and human-health aspects.