Posted on 12/29/2011 4:54:10 PM PST by Born Conservative
Health care provider announces that tobacco users will not get jobs.
Smokers need not apply.
That’s the message Geisinger Health System is sending to future job applicants.
Starting Feb. 1, Geisinger will no longer hire applicants who use tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars and chewing or smokeless tobacco, the health system announced on Wednesday.
“Geisinger is joining dozens of hospitals and medical organizations across the country that are encouraging healthier living, decreasing absenteeism and reducing health care costs by adopting strict policies that make smoking a reason to turn away job applicants,” Richard Merkle, chief human resources officer, said in a press release.
Merkle said non-nicotine hiring policies are legal in 20 states, including Pennsylvania.
Current employees are not affected by the new policy. Geisinger isn’t the first local employer to implement a no-nicotine hiring policy.
Anthony Matrisciano, a spokesman for Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania, said the health insurance provider implemented such a policy at the beginning of this year. Blue Cross also prohibits employees from smoking within 200 feet of the building.
Wyoming Valley Health Care System and Community Medical Center in Scranton did not return calls inquiring about their smoking policies.
Amy Brayford, vice president of Human Resources for Geisinger, said saving money on health care costs related to smoking was not the impetus behind the hiring policy. “The driver for it is … improving the health of our employee population and creating a healthy environment for our patients and employees,” Brayford said.
Geisinger will spend nearly $100 million on employee health care and prescription drug coverage for its nearly 15,000 employees in 2012. There were more than 2,800 new hires in 2011.
While Geisinger hopes to see health care savings in the long run, Brayford said implementing the policy will cost Geisinger money because a nicotine test will be added to the routine pre-employment drug screenings.
During the hiring process, all applicants – including those seeking full- and part-time positions, flex, volunteers and students enrolled in Geisinger-based schools – will be tested.
The urine test will include screening for cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, snuff, nicotine patches, nicotine gum and cigars. The test only detects active nicotine users, not those exposed to second-hand smoke.
Applicants who test positive for nicotine can re-apply in six months; a list of smoking cessation resources will be provided.
Brayford said there are no plans to randomly test new employees – or any employees – for nicotine or any other drugs.
“You have to have a trust relationship with employees, that is very important to us,” said Lynn Miller, executive vice president and chief administrative officer, Geisinger Clinical Enterprise.
As a reward for healthier living and incentive for current employees who smoke to quit smoking, Geisinger will offer discounts on employee contributions to their health insurance plans for non-smokers beginning in 2013. Matrisciano said Blue Cross makes contributions to employees’ health care savings accounts when they achieve certain health milestones in the company’s wellness program, such good cholesterol and blood pressure levels and not smoking. The accounts can be used to pay for things such as co-pays on doctor visits and prescription drugs.
Miller said the decision to implement the no-nicotine hiring policy was well thought out, as was the health system’s decision to make all Geisinger campuses tobacco-free in 2007.
Marcy Marshall, Geisinger director of communications, public relations and marketing, said Geisinger has disciplined and even fired employees for smoking on campus.
The American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society and the World Health Organization all have similar hiring policies, and there are hospitals in Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas that do not hire smokers, Marshall said.
Julie Kissinger, spokeswoman for the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, said such policies are a growing trend, statewide and nationally.
In a word, yes.
Approximately 20% to 25% of the US population smokes some form of tobacco.
I give you an approximation and a range because it depends on whose survey/"scientific result" you use to determine the amount.
Some say 18%, some say 23%, some say 27%. You takes your pick and hope it's right.
I bet they will hire dope smokers.
Yeah, but if a smoker dies in a car accident they would take the organs and transplant them in a heartbeat.
Curious. What don't we agree on. I hardly ever remember posting to you.
And the health police state marches on.
Once a job tells you that you can no longer ingest a legal substance, its not a job, its slavery.
Hmmm, sounds more like Fritz Hollings.
While lung cancer is very bad (several of my hard smoking relatives died from it) I’d take it over COPD. Many of my family died from COPD (eventually). They gasp for breath for years before finally dying from it. COPD is a nasty way to spend your last years on earth.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.