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Published on: June 7, 2017
Impact of a Comprehensive Workplace Hand Hygiene Program on Employer Health Care Insurance Claims and Costs,
James W Arbogast1, Laura Moore-Schiltz, William R Jarvis
1GOJO Industries, Inc, Akron (Dr Arbogast, Ms Hughes); Medical Mutual of Ohio, Cleveland (Dr Moore-Schiltz, Ms Harpster-Hagen); Jason and Jarvis Associates, LLC, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina (Dr Jarvis); and Center for Biofilm Engineering and the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Montana St. University, Bozeman (Dr Parker).
Objective:
The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of a multimodal hand hygiene intervention program in reducing health care insurance claims for hygiene preventable infections (eg, cold and influenza), absenteeism, and subjective impact on employees.
Methods:
A 13.5-month prospective, randomized cluster controlled trial was executed with alcohol-based hand sanitizer in strategic workplace locations and personal use (intervention group) and brief hand hygiene education (both groups). Four years of retrospective data were collected for all participants.
Results:
Hygiene-preventable health care claims were significantly reduced in the intervention group by over 20% (P < 0.05). Absenteeism was positively impacted overall for the intervention group. Employee survey data showed significant improvements in hand hygiene behavior and perception of company concern for employee well-being.
Conclusion:
Providing a comprehensive, targeted, yet simple to execute hand hygiene program significantly reduced the incidence of health care claims and increased employee workplace satisfaction.
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