New Health Assessment Tool for the Safe Return of Events
As Meetings & Incentives Worldwide (M&IW) looks to the safe return of in-person meetings and events, our team recognized that attendee health screenings would be vital. The solution would need to meet both practical use and operational needs to prevent potential exposure to the virus. The primary objective would be to give attendees peace of mind when attending in-person events by ensuring proper screenings both before and during the event.
Here’s a Behind the Scenes Look at the development of IHP’s newly released Online Health Assessment Tool and How it is Being Used at Events.
With the collection of sensitive attendee health information and the need to meet HIPPA and data privacy compliance, M&IW understood that working with a well-established and reputable healthcare services company who also had experience with events was key to the practical and operational success. InHouse Physicians (IHP) and M&IW have had a long-standing relationship serving event stakeholders and attendees’ needs onsite. IHP’s technical developers and medical subject matter expertise made them the perfect partner to help us build a viable solution.
From the early stages of development, IHP engaged M&IW to consult on the real-life business requirements while they worked to develop the technical solution. After several discovery calls between partners, a variety of different survey questions were drafted. The tool would not only focus on on-site surveying but also a pre-event and pre-travel assessment. All questions were aimed at assessing an attendee’s risk of Covid-19 exposure prior to and during the event. Additionally, the tool will convey to attendees that the event host cares about their health and safety by taking all necessary precautions.
After the first beta version was released, numerous M&IW planners tested the solution and provided instrumental feedback on their experience, resulting in a few system tweaks. Additionally, brief instructions regarding the attendees’ attendance eligibility and expected on-site protocols were enhanced.
A very quick turnaround (almost instant) from the survey to response was critical to a comprehensive and practical tool. The solution needed to provide event managers an easy method to recognize who has been screened and who failed, on a daily basis throughout the event, to ensure proper protocols are followed. When an attendee takes the surveys (before travel and every day during the event), they receive a simple green attendance eligibility code when they pass the survey, and a red notification if they fail with more instructions on how to proceed. The messaging for failed screenings before travel advises the attendee to follow up with their health care provider and advises against attending the event depending on the nature of the failed screening. For daily onsite screenings, any attendee that fails would not be permitted to attend the event until they are cleared by a healthcare professional on-site.
As a result of leveraging the IHP tool, M&IW has updated many standard operating procedures (SOP’s) including our privacy policy to cover eligibility file data capture, consent fields in registration and confirmations, and maintaining full transparency to allow registrants to opt-out, thereby excluding them from in-person events.
While we are ecstatic about IHP’s new screening solution, M&IW recognizes it is just one part of a more comprehensive process for ensuring the health and safety of attendees and the safe return to in-person events. From managing the experience before the attendee leaves their home until the event’s departure day, the event manager’s job is more important than ever.
For a closer look at the IHP and M&IW partnership and the development of the IHP Health Assessment Tool as well as how it works, watch the one-on-one interview with Tina Madden, Co-CEO and Chief Customer Officer at M&IW, and Dr. Jonathan Spero, CEO of InHouse Physicians (IHP).
To learn more about Meetings & Incentives Worldwide efforts on safety initiatives and protocols for returning to in-person events, be sure to tune into our Events > Forward Podcast Series. In each episode, we interview M&IW subject matter experts on relevant and timely topics. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.