Author: dev

What you need to know about FMCSA final rule & Clearinghouse:

A new U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) directive announced last month could mean steeper fines for drivers, carriers and medical review officers (MROs). The new DOT fine is more than double last year’s $2,500 per violation.

The DOT final rule, a part of the 49 CFR part 382 subpart G of the federal regulations, advises that “any employer, employee, medical review officer, or service agent who violates any provision” of the regulatory code is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $5,833.

As of the November 2020 report, the FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse reported over 162,000 employers, 1,500 MROs, and 9,000 MROs / TPAs registered, while over 45,000 were cited for violating the regulatory provision and not registering last year.

A Clearinghouse violation could be anything from an employer accessing an employee’s driver’s record without proper consent, or failing to submit a Clearinghouse query when a new employee is on-boarded. A Clearinghouse query is “an electronic check in the Clearinghouse, conducted by an employer or their designated C/TPA, to determine if current or prospective employees are prohibited from performing safety-sensitive functions,” according to its website.

It is important to keep up-to-date with Clearinghouse management, but it can definitely be time consuming for busy employers. Utilizing an external Clearinghouse management team can save employers time and prevent any headaches that may come with the entry and data process. On Demand can help your company manage your Clearinghouse and ensure all information is added and updated regularly. With new, expensive violation fees, it just makes sense to trust a TPA to manage and avoid any fees that may occur.

Additional updates included in the final rule are:

A Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) holder who is convicted of violating an out-of-service order is subject to a civil penalty of at least $3230 for a first conviction and at least $6460 for a second subsequent conviction.

An employer of a CDL holder who knowingly allows or requires an employee to operate a commercial motor vehicle during any period in which the CDL holder is subject to an out-of-service order is subject to a civil penalty between $5833 – $32297.

On Demand TPA is here to help with all of your Clearinghouse needs. A complete management solution for you and your team with competitive prices. Visit our website for more information.

The cost of substance abuse in America’s school systems is great— both financially and morally. There are many benefits of drug testing students. Drug testing within school systems allows parents and teachers to get ahead of the problem and keep students engaged in healthy behaviors.

Is there really a problem with students and drug abuse?

Yes, the problem between students and drug abuse is an extreme one. In fact, students who begin using drugs at a young age are likely to continue the drug use by 12th grade and beyond. 

According to a study done by Drugfree.org, “by the time students complete high school, 70 percent have smoked cigarettes, 81% have drunk alcohol, 47% have used marijuana and 24% have used another illicit drug.” 

Substance abuse education must start at a young age to begin early intervention or prevent young kids from picking up their first drug. In fact, students who believe there is little to no risk in smoking marijuana end up being six times more likely to use long-term over students who believe there is moderate to extreme harm in using the drug.

When do students begin using drugs?

According to Drugfree.org, students may start as young as fourth grade. However, many students begin experimenting during the tween years and transition periods such as middle school to high school. 

Substance abuse counseling for teens can be enacted within school systems to add an extra layer of safety and prevention against drug use. However, a study showed that only 36% of public schools and 14.4% of private schools offer some form of substance abuse counseling for students. 

Each year, there are 13.2 million incidents where a 12- to 17-year old tries tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, Ecstasy or some other illicit drug.

What drugs can be tested? 

At On Demand, our medical professionals can test for: amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cocaine, marijuana, methadone, opioids, PCP, propoxyphene, methaqualone, codeine, morphine, hydrocodone, hydromorphone and oxycodone. While drug testing in schools, we usually resort to a hair follicle test which entails taking a snippet of hair from the back, underside of the scalp. However, there are other ways to test for drugs, such as urine, oral fluids and breath-alcohol. 

Selection of drugs to be tested for as well as testing methods can be customized at On Demand, and our medically trained professionals are always willing to provide training and further resources on the benefits of drug testing in schools and the workplace. Call our office to find out how we can test on-site, in our office and nationally: 330-270-3660.

What are the benefits of drug testing in schools?

Over 50% of teenagers, both middle school and high school, report that drugs are used, kept or sold at their schools— a scary fact for parents and school administration. School is supposed to be one of the safest places to send your child. Afterall, your child does spend 15% of their life at school.

Parent intuition isn’t always strong enough to know if your child is experimenting with drugs or not, which is why drug testing in schools is key to being proactive and catching up on any more arising issues. Drug testing in schools is likely little to no cost to the family if the school district is paying for it, so expense is not an issue for families who may not want to incur any extra costs.

Drug testing for sports or extracurricular activities is common in today’s school systems, but the problem between drug abuse and students goes further than extracurriculars. It would be beneficial for schools to drug test students at the beginning of each school year, with some random testing throughout the year.

To further protect students, drug K-9s and random drug testing can keep your school drug-free on a consistent basis. Drug K-9s can be booked through your local police department, however police departments try to refrain from sending their K-9s to schools as it can cause burn-out in the dogs and weaken their senses for a potential call for a drug bust. 

On Demand suggests using a private K-9 company that will come to your site and provide results immediately after the tour while allowing administration to decide the next steps of action instead of automatic criminal offenses.

Drug abuse and students: Prevention saves lives

The benefits of drug testing students can really be endless. Drug testing students can save a life, and stop a potential drug habit in its tracks. Reach out to On Demand today to find out how we can come on-site to your school and drug test students.

How does climate change affect me?

Climate change affects your health in many ways. Climate change is defined as “a change in the usual weather found in a place.” Climate change can range anywhere from heavy or no rains, or above-average temperatures anywhere across the world. Scientists have proved that climate change is real, one way or another, by examining the amount of human-made gases and carbon dioxide in the air and the co-occurring effects on the environment. Severe climate change and health are closely related, and we’re here to tell you how:

    1.Extreme Weather and Your Health

You may be wondering the correlation between weather changes and health. Have you ever heard of seasonal affective disorder (SAD)? Seasonal changes affect people with SAD because the dark, gloomy and cold weather affects people’s moods negatively and can affect their wellbeing. However, SAD really isn’t caused by extreme weather. 

Instead, extreme weather such as hurricanes or wildfires can cause post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and extremely hot weather can interfere with certain mental health medications. 

Warmer summers are occurring across the country, making some cities see a higher death toll during the warmer months due to increased vulnerability among sensitive groups. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says that “heat waves are also associated with increased hospital admissions for cardiovascular, kidney, and respiratory disorders,” proving that people’s general health is affected by the changing temperatures around us. 

Even if you do not belong to any of the at-risk groups, there are many other complications and consequences of extremely stressful exposures such as pre-term birth, low birth weight, and maternal complications. 

    2. Air pollution and Asthma

Air pollution is another way that climate change affects your health. If you’re someone who suffers from seasonal allergies, you know how important air quality is to ensure you stay healthy and avoid illnesses such as sinus infections. Extreme weather and air pollution coincide with one another, making seasonal allergies worse than ever. With that being said, asthma is also directly affected by air pollution and air quality. 

The chemicals used in factories and companies saturate the ozone, which ends up causing heat, concentrations of precursor chemicals, and methane emissions. Some air pollution, however, is natural and can not be prevented. If any of these harmful gases become abundant, the ozone begins to reduce lung function among people. 

Air pollution can also occur in a person’s workplace. For instance, if you work with chemicals or any type of carcinogen or allergen, you’re at-risk for more complications with your lung capacity and function. If you are someone who owns or works at a facility with these harmful elements, be sure you’re taking precaution and providing relevant safety measures. Looking to find out more about workplace safety measures? Click here for more information on our services and how On Demand Occupational Medicine can work with you and your team to ensure health and safety at the workplace. 

    3. Water Quality and Disease

Just a few examples of water-related diseases include Hepatitis A, Giardia, Salmonella and E. coli. Water quality isn’t always something you can control or keep track of at-home. Instead, agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) works to regulate drinking water across the country and monitors the amount of chemicals or pollutants involved in public water systems. 

Water contamination occurs when water is not properly monitored, but the root of the problem goes deeper than just filtration— this is where toxins and harmful elements used by humans and large factories come back into play. Fertilizers and pesticides are some examples of overused and harmful toxins that can be absorbed into the soil causing it to become part of our water supply. It is important for farmers and factories to be mindful of the chemicals they are using.

When advice from the EPA and CDC are ignored, companies can be fined or even shut down depending on their violations. However, the effects on human life still linger as it may be too late to reverse the symptoms or illnesses brought on by poor water quality.

Tip: Purchasing filtration systems such as Brita can help to filter your tap water before consuming it.

Conclusion:

Climate change affects your health in many ways, and it is crucial to understand how you can help protect your health as well as others. Keep in mind not all of the above reasons are just examples of severe climate and health, but about human error in our ecosystem. Find out more on ways to help by visiting our friends at the World Health Organization. 

We’ve changed our name a couple times in the past– we know! But, we landed on On Demand Occupational Medicine because it encompasses our business and its multiple specialties in creating a safe, healthy and productive environment at work and at home. 

So, what really is occupational medicine? The American Medical Association describes occupational medicine as “the medical specialty devoted to the prevention and management of occupational and environmental injury, illness and disability, and promotion of health and productivity of workers, their families and communities.” Occupational medicine can include drug prevention in the workplace, prevention and treatment of workplace injuries and more. Let’s break this definition of occupational medicine down even further.

Prevention

As a business owner or manager, it is important to prevent any problems within the facility before they occur. For example, use of unprescribed drugs in the workplace can result in injury, damage and ultimately, lawsuits. In extremely unfortunate cases, use of illegal drugs in the workplace can result in death. Employers should be aware of employees’ behavior so that they can keep an eye out for suspicious activity or patterns. Don’t think of this as “babysitting,” but rather ensuring your workplace is productive and on-task each and every day. On Demand can work with you and your management team to detect these behaviors and prevent any potential accidents in the workplace.

However, occupational medicine deals with more than just drugs in the workplace. Common illnesses and diseases can occur within the workplace resulting in employees taking time off, sometimes quite extensively. Acquiring a “preferred provider” for your employees ensures you want your employees’ health to come first, and helps builds relationship with a reputable healthcare provider. 

Management

Although preventing issues before they occur is ideal, it’s not always the easiest. Managing employees and being apparent about keeping an eye on them can help to prevent people from using or bringing drugs into the workplace. Make sure you are encouraging your employees to make good decisions not only at work, but in their personal life. Employees struggling with addiction can seem like a handful to employers, and may cause a rift between the employee and their supervisors, which creates a toxic company culture. On Demand teaches employers to recognize drug use and how to work with the employee to rehabilitate or start practicing better behaviors. Specialized K-9 units are also a good option for managing drugs internally by initiating random drug searches within the facility and outside. 

Treatment

If rehabilitation for an addicted employee is a necessary route, On Demand health experts will work with you and your employee to choose a path most appropriate for them. Fortunately, On Demand is a sister company with New Day Recovery, a local drug and alcohol addiction treatment center focused on rehabilitating and restoring clients’ quality of life. Treatment allows employees to get sober, and potentially work to get their job back or reestablish broken relationships. The employee’s place of work is not always responsible for treatment costs, but it is beneficial to let the employee know you are interested in aiding them in their process with emotional support.

On Demand can also work with injured employees (non-drug related) to rehabilitate them and get them back to work quicker. Our Austintown, Ohio location hosts an in-house physical therapy room as well as an immediate care to treat strains, sprains and any other minor work-related injuries. Sending employees to On Demand can give you peace of mind knowing we try our best to rehabilitate and get employees back on their feet, quicker than our competitors, while also taking excellent care of our patient.

It is now not only COVID season, but also flu season. Yikes! Is it time to head to your local immediate care? Or the emergency room?

Just this past year, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimated 18,000,000 Americans received medical visits for their flu symptoms. Experiencing flu symptoms or not sure how severe your symptoms are? Keep reading to find out more on when to visit an Immediate Care and when to visit the ER.

This time of year can be hard on everyone. Cold weather, barren trees, sniffly noses and sore throats all go hand-in-hand for the Autumn season in Northeast Ohio.

Ultimately, it’s important to self-assess. If you believe you are experiencing severe flu or COVID symptoms, such as shortness of breath, be sure to call your doctor ASAP or head into the ER for evaluation. According to the CDC, “Most people who get flu will recover in a few days to less than two weeks, but some people will develop complications (such as pneumonia) as a result of flu, some of which can be life-threatening and result in death.” Severe symptoms that are left untreated can lead to complications and longer hospital stays.

If your symptoms are moderate, you’re most likely safe enough to go to an immediate care near you. Flu symptoms can include fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headaches, fatigue and stomach issues, but not to be confused with the common cold. Flu symptoms are abrupt and include more severe symptoms while the common cold produces symptoms gradually and more moderately. Either way, it is best to be examined by a licensed professional who can assess and treat certain symptoms to make you feel a bit more yourself. 

Most doctors’ offices are requesting patients with any signs of COVID to refrain from scheduling a visit or speak to the doctor via telehealth. Most immediate cares and hospitals are more accepting and ready to take on patients with potential COVID symptoms. Wherever you choose to go, be sure to wear a mask and keep a six-foot distance if you are feeling ill.

On Demand Occupational Medicine offers solutions to each of the previously mentioned ailments, and more. With a new Immediate Care office, our doctors and nurse practitioners can assess, treat and follow-up with your symptoms and medical care. Walk-ins are welcome, but appointments must be made if you wish to receive an instant COVID test. On Demand also is offering flu shots, so be sure to come in and prevent yourself from catching the flu or spreading the virus to someone else.

Call today 330-270-3660 or visit us online!