Here’s a look at the health company’s service that aims to help employees safely return to the workplace.
What it is: CVS Health’s Return Ready
It’s a customizable COVID-19 testing solution for employers and universities that aims to help return employees to worksites and return students, faculty and staff to campuses.
“With flexible technology options for onsite testing and/or drive-through testing at CVS Pharmacy locations, organizations can design a customized testing strategy to meet their unique needs,” the company claims. Return Ready builds on CVS Health’s commitment to helping the country on its path forward by making COVID-19 testing available to consumers, the business community, universities and vulnerable populations impacted by the virus.
CVS Health says the cost for the service varies because of customizable options.
Why it’s helpful: Return Ready offers organizations clinical consultation, testing execution, integrated reporting and additional health and safety solutions to help reduce COVID-19 transmission, CVS Health claims. The testing technology options include point-of-care testing with results in a few minutes or third-party lab processed testing with results in a few days.
An employer can choose to offer testing on-site—and in a safe testing environment set up by CVS Health—or at one of the CVS Pharmacy drive-through testing locations, which are anticipated to soon reach 1,400 sites.
Return Ready also includes an analytics dashboard for ongoing oversight and trends across worksite location(s), along with state and federal reporting of test results, as required.
Other insights: As some states reduce or eliminate their shelter-in-place requirements, many employers are expected to initiate the process of returning to work. But that’s a complicated order as coronavirus cases rise in many states and with many employees feeling uneasy and scared to return to work. Furthermore, recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found that one in four workers is at high risk for serious complications from COVID-19 if infected. Their analysis estimates that 37.7 million workers, or 24% of employed U.S. adults in 2018, are at high risk, including 10 million who are 65 or older and an additional 27.7 million with pre-existing medical conditions.
Related: Employees worried about being exposed to COVID-19 at work
That’s why employers must take a hard look at how to safeguard returning employees in the midst of the pandemic. Temperature checks, social distancing, more vigorous cleaning and requiring employees to wear masks are among the precautions employers are taking. Additionally, a number of companies and vendors have begun to offer employers products and tools to help. In addition to CVS Health’s new product, Alight Solutions recently released an app that provides configurable screening and access to healthcare concierge services for all employees returning to their physical workspaces.
For more free benefits resources, check out this list from HRE.