“Our CEO wanted to do this for patient and employee safety,” a media spokesperson told Scene.
One employee told us that CCF management has been citing this 2014 op-ed that lays out the drug-testing case: “We believe hospitals should be required to perform random drug tests on all health care workers with access to drugs. The tests should be comprehensive enough to screen for fentanyl and other commonly abused drugs and must keep up with evolving drug abuse patterns.”
At the Clinic, though, all employees will be subject to the new policy (not just health care workers with access to drugs). We’ve also been told that this applies only to employees in the U.S.
“We’re not going into detail about what we’re testing for, but [the testing] will be broad,” the spokesperson explained. Already, she continued, the Clinic screens for nicotine use, as a policy has long since prohibited hiring smokers.
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This article appears in Nov 18-24, 2015.
Does that go forhe Doctors too?
Will they randomly check patients to protect the employees?
If CCF starts from the very top with “administration/management “, including the CEO, then it’s a very fair policy.
Lets just assume that ONE employee tests positive for a drug which should not be in their system. Does this mean that said employer will afford that employee the same patient privleges as a patient? If so, would the employee have the “luxury” of THINKING that they would have a “Same Day Appointment” to obtain help for their problem or just be left with their “Pride” that they work for a “great hospital” that is notoriously low in wages and has GREAT ADVERTISING? ps. pay no attention to the man behind the curtain…
Healthcare now has a zero tolerance.
When I began healthcare 25 yrs ago, there was an opportunity for compassion,albeit a one time thing.
The number of healthcare workers with depression and co-dependence issues, and third shift employees that work critical care areas are of the highest percentage with shift work sleep disorder.
There is not an assistive, preventative program in place that is readily available.
Sure there are wellness programs and employee health…but how many healthcare employees have time in the midst of daily work, committees, mandatory meetings, and trying to care for their own families.
For this to be above board, CCF should farm out the process of randomly selecting the people to be tested, to a third party. Also there is a ratio of rank and file, to management, and to administration. And testing should adhere to that ratio. I worked for a corporation that demanded drug screening, and we readily agreed to it. We informed the company that when the company started drug testing in must include everyone. Once that was stipulated, the company no longer demanded it, and it was NEVER implemented.
We are not amused.
Take your suburban Boston sense of humor and stick it up your elitist ass.
Chuckles the Clown
Wow, one more fascist thing. As if health care professionals are not stressed enough. Cosgrove just wants an excuse to lay people off and the crummy USA government of course does nothing to protect people’s jobs from this type of abuse.
As soon as you, dr cosgrove, and your board of trustees agrees to random drug testing as well 🙂
I am convinced that The Cleveland Clinic thinks they own their employees. They already encroached on personal freedom and told their employees they can’t smoke cigarettes. Cosgrove was also famously quoted as saying that he wanted to opt out of hiring obese people as well, til he received a lot of backlash (That didn’t stop a Cleveland clinic employee health plan rep, who contacted a co-worker of mine and told her that her BMI was too high and she needed to lose weight). They are also notorious for denying coverage on certain prescriptions and tests under their employee benefits. As our healthcare insurance providers AND employers, they have a dual interest ($) and probe way too far into our personal lives and somehow get away with it. Random drug screening is just another tool to control everyone. Add that to being paid the lowest rate, comparatively, to other hospitals in the area. You don’t own us. Stop abusing your employees. We are the ones who have worked our ass off to propel the Cleveland clinic to lead the nation in healthcare. On a side note: I find it funny that Cosgrove called to cut costs in light of the soaring American healthcare costs, laying off many employees within the last couple years, but somehow finds money in the budget to paint everything psych institution white and implement “random” drug testing for some 40,000 of its employees. They are a monopoly and know that they can get away with doing whatever they want and all the other hospitals will eventually follow suite.
Many of the same statements and arguments where made during the proposal to start drug testing truck drivers. now it is expected and accepted. Of course under the subject of public safety. If Public safety is the drive behind new program legislation then many industries need to be included. Law enforcement, Heavy equipment, crane, etc.
There is no such thing as “random” drug screening. Look up the word. My dictionary defines it as “Having no specific pattern or objective.” If an employer really trusts its employees in their hiring/screening process, they wouldn’t have to do this. I made the most money that I ever made in my life working for a company that had no HR department and my compensation plan was on a :”handshake” with the Executive Vice President. As soon as our company was sold to a large corporation that had and HR department, and then another one after that, they ruined the company and it went out of business. Lack of trust. If the Cleveland Clinic does implement “random” drug testing, they should offer the “random” selection’s a choice of how they want to be screened. Furthermore, they should be paid a bonus for the invasion of privacy and possible “profiling” of them, when they pass the drug tests.