Emergency Protocols Due to COVID-19 Memorandum Telework

Lisa Muttiah

HIV Grants Manager

March 25, 2020 (Tarrant County, TX) -- Effective immediately, the Tarrant County Administrative Agency is operating under emergency Telework Protocols due to COVID-19 from now until May 31, 2020.

As telework becomes the reality for some staff while working under COVID-19 emergency protocols, the following telework procedures are effective immediately and remain in place until further notice.

1.     The AA must be notified of any funded services which are cancelled or modified. The notification needs to include the plan for communicating with clients and any barriers created because of the changes. As changes are being planned which could disrupt continuity of care, the AA should be notified in advance.

2.     Subrecipients must have a telework policy, work agreement and work plan for telework. These documents must be provided to the AA for review and feedback.  The following should be included in a policy:

a.     Provide Enterprise and/or ARIES cannot be accessed through non-agency owned devices. This includes accessing through remote desktop/VPN from a personal device.

b.     Both direct and admin staff must have an agency owned device with an agency authorized VPN for remote access. The connectivity via VPN should be tested prior to telework assignment.

c.      Clear guidance on managing protected health information outside of an office.

d.     Clear guidance on managing documentation of client level data outside of a secure data system.

e.     Requirement for staff to utilize secure locked methods for client data to be transported between locations.

f.       A clear process for recording time and effort.

g.     Standards to maintain communication with clients to assure continuity of care.

3.     As telework is being evaluated for any staff, the following considerations are recommended:

·       Can duties be effectively performed at home?

·       Can duties be performed with assurance of confidentiality?

·       Does the subrecipient have technology to support the work arrangement? This includes access to remote desktop or VPN.

·       Is equipment available for staff?

·       Are duties clear and defined?

·       Are work activities measurable?

·       Does staff member have the work style, knowledge, skills and abilities suitable for a telework assignment?

·       Will telecommuting reduce services to internal or external customers?

·       Is staff member in good standing and not subject to a performance plan?

4.     For client-level service delivery contact to be classified as telework, documentation should be categorized as follows:

If not conducting real-time entry into Provide, a confidential log should be maintained which includes documentation of the type of interaction, whether group or individual (TeleHealth only), time of communication and a summary of discussion/interaction. We will provide data entry guidance at a later date.  Be well and take care of yourselves.