Open Arms Care Supports Statewide Testing
Governor Bill Lee announced last week that free testing will become available for any Tennessean, regardless of whether they are showing traditional symptoms or not. “Expanding our COVID-19 testing capacity allows more Tennesseans to have improved access to testing which will empower citizens to make informed health decisions”, he said. The expanded testing began over the weekend.
Open Arms Care supports our Governor’s efforts to open up testing and believes that this will be critical to opening up the economy and a return to normalcy. For the safety of our clients and each other, we want to encourage all our employees that want the test, to be tested. Testing sites can be found by contacting your local health department.

Open Arms Care is Protecting Employees PTO
In support of our employees, Open Arms Care is instituting a COVID-19 PTO expansion plan for anyone who tests positive and must be quarantined.
As part of our continued efforts to protect employees and clients during the COVID-19 pandemic, effective retro to April 1, 2020 Open Arms Care is offering all employees up to two weeks of additional PTO for any of the following reasons:
1. Employee has been diagnosed with COVID-19 by a healthcare provider (employee must provide proof of diagnosis) and must be quarantined; or
2. If according to Open Arms Care COVID-19 Protection policy, an employee is asked to stay home.
The amount of COVID-19 PTO available to an employee under this policy will be limited to the average number of hours that the employee works during a normal, two-week period, not to exceed 80 hours for full-time employees and 60 hours for part-time employees. COVID-19 PTO must be taken consecutively, will be paid at the employee’s regular base rate of pay, and will not count towards hours worked for overtime purposes. The amount of hours available in a given situation will be determined based upon the policy, at the discretion of Open Arms Care.
Any unused COVID-19 PTO will expire December 31, 2020 or upon termination of employment, whichever is sooner, and once expired will not be paid out to employees under any circumstance. If a paid holiday falls during an employee’s period of COVID-19 PTO, the employee will receive COVID-19 PTO in lieu of holiday pay.
Employees should request COVID-19 PTO using the same process as regular PTO, if possible. If not possible, employees should submit requests for COVID-19 PTO directly to their immediate supervisor or Human Resources. Open Arms Care will require employees to provide documentation to substantiate their need for COVID-19 PTO under this policy.
BlueCross Is Waiving Member Costs for COVID-19 Treatment Under the Open Arms Care Health Benefits Program As part of Blue Cross’ mission to serve OAC employees enrolled in a Blue Cross plan, Blue Cross is removing barriers to receiving care. From now until May 31, 2020, Blue Cross will waive member cost sharing for COVID-19 treatments, including hospitalizations. If an employee or one of your enrolled dependents is diagnosed with COVID-19, they won’t pay out-of-pocket costs for treatment from in-network providers, including inpatient treatment. If you have any questions about these programs, please contact your Human Resources Department.
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