Screening employees of Long Term Care Facilities for COVID-19 prior to reporting to work is a requirement of the CMS May 8, 2020 Final Rule (available in the Federal Register). The wRAM platform (tool) was designed to support all healthcare and other businesses in preparing their workforce to return to work safely.

The employee completes a one-time registration in the wRAM Chatbot developed by Pegwin Insights (a patient safety company) on their smartphone. Then, the employee completes wRAM self-assessment daily before going to work. If not cleared for work, the wRAM Chatbot provides further instructions and resources. Assessments include critical symptoms for COVID-19 and Geolocation information. Human Resources receives an alert when a monitored employee's deterioration in health is detected. The employee will need to display the final health declaration screen declaring that the employee has been cleared to report to work at the facility’s employee entrance, per each facility’s security policies.

Your role is simple but critical: Test every day before coming to your shift. This is crucial to preventing infections from spreading in the workplace.

Every facility registers its own account with its own security. wRAM chatbot data are stored in HIPAA-compliant data servers. Data are stored per your facility’s employee data retention rules. While each facility will have its own policies regarding retention of employee personnel records, Pegwin recommends 5 years based on current OSHA rules.

Data access follows your facility personnel file access rules, but typically, Human Resources and your supervisor will be able to access summarized data, depending on your facility.

Contact your Human Resources office or other designated individual for your facility.

Access to your own data is dependent on the rules established by your facility.

Data goes to the employer and their designated staff.

Each facility will have their own policies on compliance.

You should do the quick self-assessment as soon as possible; the earlier that the data is sent, the earlier you will know whether you can proceed to work, stay home, or seek medical care. Your facility may have a specific policy for employees to follow.

No. There is no cost to the employee to use this.

You are required to give consent to receive notifications via WhatsApp, the application used for the wRAM. When consent is not provided, your employer will be notified.

WhatsApp is a messenger service, similar to text (SMS) messaging, that allows users to exchange texts, videos, images, place voice and video calls, and more. The wRAM chatbot is built as a conversation with the user and responds to answers using artificial intelligence.

Questions that will be asked in the wRAM include:

• If you’ve recently had a positive test for COVID-19 or another respiratory illnesses
• If you’ve recently been exposed to someone who’s tested positive for COVID-19
• Whether you’re experiencing any symptoms such as chills, headache, fatigue, fever, shortness of breath, etc.
• Your current body temperature

You will receive one of two final screens:

• Green screen - indicating that you are clear to proceed to work
• Red screen - indicating that you are not cleared to proceed to work and that you should stay home
  • When you receive the red screen, you must notify your supervisor immediately.

The Village Prime Care (TVPC) provided Primary Care Providers (e.g. MD/DO/NP/PA) to assist the most vulnerable individuals: seniors (65+), the chronically ill, veterans, and those with minimal access to health care at their homes and residences. The goal is to minimize trips to brick and mortar offices while simultaneously increasing healthcare services at the place of residence.

Yes - the wRAM needs to be completed every day, even when you receive the red screen and are staying home to recuperate.

After the one-time opt-in online registration is complete, you will receive a notification on your smartphone in the WhatsApp app to begin the wRAM chatbot self-assessment.