Patient Advocate Foundation COVID-19 Operational Response Plan

Patient Advocate Foundation programs and services will remain fully operational.

In response to the evolving impact of COVID-19 on the nation and our community, Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF) established key priorities to guide our response planning.  First and foremost is the protection of the health and safety of our staff and maintaining the availability of our program services so that we can continue to be a resource to our patients, their families and care teams. To accomplish this, PAF’s Leadership and Response Team has deployed a comprehensive pandemic operations continuity plan that conforms to FEMA guidance, and addresses CDC guidelines and recommendations for implementing community spread mitigation strategies including, creating social distancing and virtual work sites for as many of our staff as possible.

PAF’s Response Plan Includes

• Development and implementation of a Pandemic Continuity of Operations plan that defines business continuity processes that minimize disruption to essential programming
• Implementing remote work capabilities– PAF is temporarily relocating staff to virtual work sites to reduce the risk of illness
• Urged employees to follow general CDC guidelinesto limit the spread of illness, including handwashing and other common hygiene measures, and provided them with the latest developments regarding COVID-19
• Imposed travel restrictions on PAF staff, both attending events and hosting events have been suspended

We are pleased that the continuity plan enables all PAF programs to remain fully operational during this period as our staff will be able to access all required systems and services from their assigned virtual locations.  There may be situational impacts to service if illness affects staffing levels in the coming weeks, including increased wait times, staff response times and processing times.  We do encourage the use of our online portals to electronically submit all case documentation as U.S. mail may not be a reliable means of communication. Assisting our patients is highest priority and we are confident in our team’s nimbleness and ability to continue delivering service to those in need!

PAF will closely monitor the severity of the pandemic and will continue to communicate updates as they become necessary. We are grateful for your support and appreciative of your patience as we strive to manage these unusual circumstances.  If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us.

Warmly,

Fran Castellow, MSEd.

President, Operations

To learn more about protecting yourself and your community from respiratory illness visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/index.html.