Applies to: Clinic Staff, Clinic Supervisors
 
Maintaining our patient’s rights to privacy and complying with HIPAA are among our greatest duties in the course of our employment.
 
When you are working a patient up for Dr. Vaishnav or are rooming a patient for him to examine, after you have entered the room and seat the patient, you are to fully close the exam room door.  This rule is to be followed in all cases, except for the rare instance in which a patient states that they are claustrophobic.  If a patient states that they are claustrophobic and they object to the door being closed, please honor their request and note this in the patient’s record.
 
When there is a telephone call from a physician relating to a patient or patient care, or from a patient, that Dr. Vaishnav indicates he desires to take, when he is ready, please transfer the call to him in his office, not at 316 (the Retina Technician Area), so that he may address the call in a private setting.

Applies to:  All full time employees
 
In order to be consistent with certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act, and to ensure that we are in alignment with industry standards, the Paid Time Off (PTO) Policy of The Eye Institute for Medicine & Surgery will classify full time and part time employees as follows:  Full time employees must work and maintain 30 hours per week to be benefit eligible.  Employees working 29 hours or less are considered part time employees and are not eligible for benefits.
 
Paid Time Off (PTO) is provided to full-time employees of Florida Eye Consultants, Inc., the Practice, and The Eye Institute Surgery Center, LLC, The Surgery Center, at the discretion of administration, for the purpose of providing income during approved periods of time when full-time employees are absent from work due to a preapproved vacation, to attend to personal business, or due to injury, illness or an emergency.  Note:  There is no separate payment program for sick leave outside of this policy.
 
Employees may only request and use PTO time for the reasons listed above.  PTO time may not be requested or used to increase hours to be paid during periods where there is no work available, i.e. to offset periods of time when the employee has not been scheduled to work, is scheduled to arrive later than they are typically scheduled, is asked to leave earlier than is typical, or if hours are decreased due to the operational needs of the Practice.
 
Before PTO may be requested or used, a waiting period of 180 calendar days from the date of hire must be completed, the employee must have full-time designation, and the employee must have successfully completed his/her probationary period.  After these minimum standards have been satisfied, employees may request PTO for possible approval by their supervisor and/or human resources manager.
 
The following schedule describes hot PTO hours are accumulated each year for possible use in that year, based upon maintaining one’s status as a full-time employee:

• Years zero through five, full-time employees may, at the discretion of administration, be provided up to 10 PTO days per year, accrued incrementally through each year of service.
• After six or more years of eligible service, full-time employees may, at the discretion of administration, be provide up to 15 PTO days per year, accrued incrementally through each year of service.

 
There is no greater number of PTO days per year that may be provided to employees, than the schedule noted above, based upon length of employment.
 
Employees who will need to be absent from work without prior notice, due to injury, illness, or emergency must notify their direct supervisor and/or others they have been directed to contact as soon as they become aware that they will be unable to report to work as scheduled.  The direction supervisor must also be contacted on each subsequent day of unexpected absence.  If the employee is absent three or more consecutive days at the discretion of administration, the employee may be asked to provide a physician’s note.