White House Plan to Improve Care for Those with COVID-19 Includes Building Toward Herd Immunity -- And That Means Employer Mandates with Steep Penalties for Failure

WILMINGTON, N.C., Sept. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- To improve the care of those with COVID-19, and assist the overburdened health care system straining under the weight of the pandemic, the White House's COVID-19 action plan requires large employers to implement a vaccine mandate to help the nation reach herd immunity and flatten the curve. But for many employers, who have little-to-no experience collecting and reviewing sensitive vaccination records, or the also-required weekly diagnostic test results, the task ahead is monumental – and carries real consequences for failure. Those employers who violate the White House's plan could face up to $14,000 per violation.

"These are waters most employers have never entered before, and it gets incredibly complex incredibly fast," said Brett Martin, CEO of infectious disease screening company CastleBranch. "Mandates mean continuously collecting sensitive medical documents from employees, verifying the document's veracity, having a process to accommodate legally permissible medical, religious and philosophical waivers, tracking weekly diagnostic test results, and creating a documented audit trail while protecting the individual's private information from unlawful exposure. For the inexperienced, it's an unmitigated nightmare." 

To help large employers, colleges and universities navigate the vaccine mandate, Martin's company created an essential tool kit: RealVaccinationID.com and CB COVID-19 Compliance. RealVaccinationID.com provides digital and physical proof of COVID-19 vaccination status while helping companies to create a secure audit trail; CB COVID-19 Compliance offers diagnostic test tracking, as well as temperature and symptom monitoring, isolation and quarantine processes, and contact tracing solutions.

RealVaccinationID.com cards are the first step to help employers comply with the new mandate, and to help protect themselves from legal liability by creating a secure, documented audit trail. The driver's licensed-sized cards can be obtained after an individual submits proof of his or her vaccination, booster shot, or waiver status, along with name, date of birth, address, photo ID and other personal identifiers. A team of trained experts reviews and verifies the medical information under CastleBranch's "nothing about me without me" policy, which protects the individual's private data from unwanted exposure. The cards also incorporate sophisticated forgery-prevention technology, including holographic film similar to those found on state-issued IDs, to help individuals prove they've received the COVID-19 vaccine or qualify for vaccine exemption, while making counterfeiting or forgery next to impossible.

The card can be paired with the company's Diagnostic Test Tracking, part of its overall CB COVID-19 Compliance toolset. The solution helps organizations track the results of any diagnostic COVID-19 test accessible via a secure, password-protected platform, and can be used to help comply with the White House's weekly test requirement.

"COVID-19 represents one of the greatest existential threats to our health, safety and wellbeing any of us have seen in our lifetime. It's important that we stop the virus, which means reaching herd immunity through vaccinations, but getting there requires process and experience," said Martin. "CastleBranch has the tools and experience to safely navigate the government's directive, and to help organizations and individuals manage the regulatory risks that come with handling protected health records."

CastleBranch, an infectious disease screening company with 25 years of experience, built this Essential Tool Kit with inspiration and guidance from some of the world's leading epidemiologists and pandemic disease policy experts. Its CB COVID-19 Compliance toolset was first launched in April of 2020, and RealVaccinationID.com in January 2021. Both have since gained the endorsement of the Organization for Associate Degree Nursing (OADN) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), the nation's two largest nursing education healthcare associations in the country.

For more information, visit the CB Real Vaccination ID resource page.

About CastleBranch:
Located in Wilmington, N.C., CastleBranch is one of the leading providers of vaccination, immunization tracking and diagnostic test tracking in the United States. With 25 years of experience, the company has collected, reviewed, and/or stored over 35 million medical documents for a majority of healthcare education programs across the nation. Their applications are designed to maintain strict compliance with state and federal privacy regulations; create a detailed audit trail along every step of the process; and to help organization handle the logistics of implementing a complex vaccine mandate at scale.

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SOURCE CastleBranch