Medical Emergency Protocols

Medical Emergency Protocols

HIPAA Protection

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is in place to protect customer’s private health information. 
Customers may volunteer information related to their medical condition, but you cannot ask about or notate anything relating to their private medical needs.  

Job Notation Examples: 
Customer states they have a medical condition that requires working Air Conditioning in the home.
Customer stated they take medication that needs refrigeration.

Medical Emergency Procedures

When it is disclosed, a customer has a Medical Condition or High-Risk Situation, we must ensure the proper steps are taken to assist them.

This information may be provided by the customer, friend, family member, service provider, etc. 
Service Job severity may be updated to Medical Emergency at any point in the job cycle by any department with access.

If assigning an SP, follow proper Service Provider Assignment Guidelines.

When severity is updated to Medical Emergency a Zoho Task is created for the Med Emergency team to follow up with the customer until resolution.

Use the suggested script to advise of expectations: 

Medical Emergency Script

“<Customer Name>, your request has been forwarded to a specialist who will contact you directly to further assist you until resolved." 

If a Customer or Service Provider escalates a complaint that can pose a risk to their wellbeing or to Cinch, see Potential Risk to Customer or Service Professional.

Identifying Medical Emergencies and High-Risk Situations

Medical Emergency may only be selected if a Medical Condition and/or High Risk situation is present along with a corresponding item failure. 

Below are the most common examples of Medical Conditions or High-Risk Situations to listen out for:

Keywords/Phrases

Medical Conditions
  1. Asthma
  2. Cancer
  3. Diabetes
  4. Heat Stroke
  5. Heart Disease/Heart Condition
  6. High Blood Pressure
  7. High-Risk Pregnancy

High-Risk Situations
  1. Elderly person in the home
  2. Bed-ridden occupant
  3. Infant/baby in the home (Do Not ask age of the child)
  4. Medications or medical dietary items requiring refrigeration when refrigerator is not working
  5. Breast milk or formula requiring refrigeration when refrigerator is not working

Medical Emergency Scenarios

The scenarios below qualify for a Medical Emergency in the event: 
  1. The customer mentions one of the Medical Conditions or High-Risk Situations.
  2. It is the Only unit in the home.
    OR
  3. The person with the medical/high risk need is unable to be moved to an area with a working unit.

Item

Example Scenarios

HVAC

 

Air Conditioning – External temperatures are above 85 degrees 

Heating – External temperatures are Below 40 degrees

Refrigerator

They have a medical condition that requires medication or dietary items to be refrigerated 

They have a infant/baby in the home
(Do not ask the customer the age of their child)

Ice Maker

Required ice treatment due to surgery or inflammation

Water Heater

Medical need present and no hot water

Toilet or Stoppage

If the toilet is not accessible due to disabled or elderly 

No working toilets

Clothes Washer or Clothes Dryer

Person in the home is elderly or bed-ridden 

Recent surgery or procedure requiring clean linen

Dishwasher

Wheelchair bound 

Medical condition requiring dishes to be sanitized

Electrical

Area of the home occupied by person with a medical condition requiring electricity (oxygen, home dialysis, etc.)

Garage Door Opener

Wheelchair bound or disabled unable to open garage door

Range or Cooktop

Medical need to boil water or cook a specific diet

Jetted Bathtub/Whirlpool or Spa/Hot Tub

Medical condition requiring therapy or spa treatment

Note: If unsure whether a scenario should be a Medical Emergency, review with a supervisor.

Medical Emergency Keyword Message

When certain keywords are entered into the Service Job Comments and saved, the below alert/prompt message is displayed in SB: 

ALERT: Your notes indicate this may be a high-risk job. If so, please update the service order severity to MEDICAL EMERGENCY. 

Only update the severity to Medical Emergency if the situation meets the Med Emergency guidelines listed above. 


Medical Emergency: Follow Up

When job severity is updated to Medical Emergency Zoho and SB will display a Med Emergency Icon with the Job Number. 

Once a Med Team Case Manager is assigned to the job by entering their info in the Service Administrator fields and Alert will display:





Locate the Case Manager's information in the Service Administrator fields:



During Normal Business Hours (Mon-Fri: 8:00am - 6:00pm):
  1. Contact the assigned Case Manager by dialing their Direct Phone Number listed on the job, update them on the customer interaction, and conference the customer in.
    OR
  2. Leave a VM advising of the customer information for them to call the customer back.
    Set the expectation with the customer they will be contacted by their case manager as soon as possible.
Outside Normal Business Hours:
  1. Review the service request and assist any way possible.
  2. Set proper expectations for the customer to receive a call back from their case manager the following business day.
Notate the service request appropriately. 

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