Practice Management Alert

Question: Public health officials have confirmed community spread of measles in our region. Should our physician office require all patients, visitors, and staff members to wear masks, or is asking patients to mask infringing on their rights? We don’t want to make people angry.

New York Subscriber

Answer: Community measles transmission does not automatically translate into a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendation for universal masking throughout a physician office. The higher-priority measles controls are early identification, immediate isolation, healthcare personnel immunity, airborne precautions for suspected/confirmed cases, appropriate respiratory protection for personnel caring for those patients, and compliance with state/local public health directions. Here’s a New York State Department of Health fact sheet on measles for staff reference.

At minimum, the practice should screen patients when appointments are scheduled and again on arrival for fever, rash, cough, runny nose, red eyes, recent travel, or known exposure. Instruct a patient with possible measles to call before entering, so you can be more fully prepared to mitigate risk of spread. The CDC recommends that any healthcare personnel interacting with patients with suspected or confirmed measles have presumptive evidence of immunity to the virus.

Your practice can establish a policy during periods of community transmission, if it does not already have one, that combines local public health instructions with prearrival screening, rapid identification and isolation, verification of staff immunity, airborne precautions, exposure-management procedures, and clear instructions for patients and visitors. Document when the policy was activated, the public health guidance reviewed, and the person responsible for updating it as regional conditions change.

Rachel Dorrell, MA, MS, CPC-A, CPPM, Production Editor, AAPC