Beginning today, Mountain States Health Alliance will no longer hire people who use tobacco products.
The new policy will see that each applicant is tested for nicotine as part of the pre-employment screening. If evidence of tobacco use is found, the applicant will be deferred for six months before they are able to apply again.
Officials with the health care system hope applicants will take that time to seek tobacco cessation aids.
“The reason behind this is as health care providers we see every single day the devastating effects of tobacco use on people’s health and we believe that it’s our responsibility to set an example to promote a healthy lifestyle and promote a healthy work force,” Mountain States Communications Manager Teresa Hicks said. “This is our way of demonstrating that tobacco use has no place in the healthy lifestyle. We believe health care workers should be held to a higher standard in order to set an example for healthy behaviors.”
Another reason behind the new policy is a patient satisfaction measure, Hicks said.
In the past, patients and family members have complained about employees smelling like smoke.
“Health care workers are constantly in close contact with people who have very fragile health conditions and individuals might be particularly sensitive to tobacco smoke,” she said.
The policy will not affect current Mountain States employees who use tobacco products. Hicks said it only pertains to new hires.
“That being said, we do encourage all team members to be tobacco-free and we offer a number of tools to help them quit, including free classes and reimbursement for smoking-cessation aids, so we want to offer them the opportunity to make that healthy choice,” Hicks said.
Mountain States offers incentives to current employees who are tobacco-free that count toward the system’s overall wellness program, which allows employees to take advantage of discounts on health insurance premiums.
Response to the new policy has been mixed from people outside the system, but Hicks said most people have been supportive of the organization’s efforts to promote healthy lifestyles.
Tobacco users are not a protected class under federal laws, Hicks said.
“Tobacco use is not protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act and it is truly one of the most detrimental things that a person can do as far as their health is concerned. It impacts every single organ and system in the body,” she said.
With its new policy, MSHA joins a number of other health care systems across the country that have similar policies, including Memorial Health Care System in Chattanooga, Henry Ford Health System in Michigan, Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and Baylor Health Care System in Texas.
In a statement from Wellmont Health System, officials said the organization does not have plans to implement a policy of not hiring tobacco users, but they encourage employees to make healthy choices.
“That includes offering tobacco cessation classes for employees and charging higher insurance premiums for those who use these products, among other things,” the statement read. “Wellmont places a great deal of value on wellness, both in our employee population and in the communities we serve. ... We will continue to explore and implement wellness initiatives that make our region not only a great place to live, but a great place to live well.”
Remove Money from Politics writes:
March 1, 2013
3:00 PM
Good. If places are going to ban marijuana smokers from being hired they should ban tobacco smokers too. It's only fair. Smoking is bad and the smell is nasty.
DG63 writes:
March 1, 2013
3:17 PM
Awesome! I suggest they also stop hiring people who drink alcohol. I find it amazing that companies do this when every state will legalize marijuana in the next 20 years... What you gonna do then?
truthful writes:
March 2, 2013
7:54 AM
What about that heart surgeon that was pill up on drugs when during surgery What ever happen to him that`s worse than smoking
truthful writes:
March 2, 2013
7:57 AM
Hell only new employee`s the old one would not effect them if it did the place wouldn`t have any employees
sister fatima writes:
March 2, 2013
11:39 AM
I guess they should refrain from hiring people who are overweight and obese too. After all, it's their responsibility to promote a healthy lifestyle and healthy workforce..
jcresident writes:
March 3, 2013
6:23 AM
Unless its based off race or gender, they should be able to use any method to screen employees that they wish. Period
knifehandle67 writes:
March 3, 2013
7:28 PM
What about those people who live with smokers but do not smoke themselves they will test positive and will be turned away?
What about all the people they are bringing on for the Erwin hospital?
The timing of this sounds like Denis and company at Mountain States just found a way to turn away many that currently work at the Erwin hospital!
MannyCalavera writes:
March 4, 2013
6:16 AM
Will last until it effects somebody with money and time, like most of their policies.
widowwoman writes:
March 4, 2013
7:29 AM
The root of the matter, here, lies in the act. Websters defines "discrimination" as: the act, practice, or an instance of discriminating categorically rather than individually. The Harvard Law dictionary defines it as: The act of denying rights, benefits, justice, equitable treatment, or access to facilities available to all others, to an individual or group of people because of their race, age, gender, handicap or other defining characteristic.
Thus, this arbitrary hiring practice IS discrimination.
That being said.....I don't like the smell of perfume, and as I suffer migraines and the smell of perfume is a trigger for me, should we discriminate against that? Seeing an older woman dress like a teenager is upsetting to me, shall we discriminate? Plumbers crack, ill fitting clothing, toupees, facial hair, long unkempt fingernails? Hmmm.
Additionally, what about the people who are trying to quit and are using the electronic cigarette to do so? They are going to test positive for nicotine, yet the elements that cause health problems such as the more than 4000 chemical compounds and at least 400 toxic substances, among them tar and carbon monoxide, are not present.
Give it up. No matter what justification you present, discrimination is the result.
arby2003 writes:
March 4, 2013
7:53 AM
I don't smoke or use tobacco in any form but this is going waaaaaay to far.
MannyCalavera writes:
March 4, 2013
3:14 PM
When the glad handing, know nothing leadership stops drinking.
truthful writes:
March 6, 2013
12:25 PM
What about when the patients go out side to smoke and then coming back in the hospital bring the smell of smoke back in the halls of the hospital. That`s a big deal i`ve as high as 20 or 30 at any given time going out to smoke and they suppose to be sick but they make it outside . Of course it`s a difference from being a patient or a employee. A patient is where the hospital makes the big money and the employee is just a person needing a job to support their family's.
provided.