A Message to Our Vendor Community

Effective Immediately

DATE:                   April 24, 2023

TO:                        All Kaiser Permanente Suppliers and Vendors

FROM:                  Brook Fan, Vice President, Supply Chain Operations

SUBJECT:             COVID-19 Protocol for Vendor Access to Kaiser Permanente Facilities

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This notification is for all Kaiser Permanente suppliers and vendors. Please cascade and/or distribute this to appropriate leadership within your company to ensure compliance.  If you subcontract your services, please cascade this information to your subcontractors as well.  All vendors and suppliers will be held accountable for their employees and subcontractors complying with this new requirement.  

 

Dear Vendor Representative,

Effective April 3, the California Department of Public Health no longer requires health care workers to receive a COVID-19 booster vaccination.  However, Los Angeles County, San Francisco County, and the cities of Pasadena and Long Beach Departments of Health still require a COVID-19 booster vaccination for Health Care Workers (HCW).  If the vendor performs work in a Kaiser Permanente health care hospital or medical office building, they will be required to have proof of a booster. With this change Kaiser Permanente will no longer require COVID-19 booster vaccination for vendors, unless they perform work at a facility in one of the listed jurisdictions

Throughout the enterprise, Kaiser Permanente still requires vendors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, if county departments of public health implement stricter requirements than KP policy, KP facilities in these counties must comply with the stricter requirements.

Currently, the CDC defines “fully vaccinated” as having received the second dose in a 2-dose primary series (e.g., Pfizer, Novavax, and Moderna vaccines) OR receipt of a single-dose vaccine (e.g., Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine) AND a 2-week period having passed since the administration of the last vaccine dose. Should the CDC definition for fully vaccinated change to include booster shots or annual booster vaccinations, Kaiser Permanente employees will be required to comply with any revised definition.

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With the recent outbreak and spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Kaiser Permanente is committed to protecting the health of our patients, health care workers, and business partners. In support of our continued management of the virus, we are updating protocols in our facilities that will impact our vendors and partners. The guidance is based on the most current information available about the virus from federal, state and local public health officials. Please review the protocols outlined below.

Effective immediately, the following supplemental safety measures and restrictions regarding vendor access are being implemented:

• Vendors who are sick are not permitted to enter our facilities.
• Vendors must wear a mask and appropriate PPE defined by KP at all times in KP facilities in Los Angeles and San Francisco Counties as well as the Santa Rosa Medical Center in Sonoma County, California.
• At all other facilities, vendors are required to follow local infection prevention policy requirements, including masking, where each individual medical center will provide additional specific guidelines and protocols for vendors, as required.
• We require you to follow the established infection prevention measures to keep our patients, health care workers, and business partners safe:
  • Perform hand hygiene often – utilize alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth at all times.
  • Sneeze or cough into a tissue, or the inside of your elbow.
  • Clean and disinfect objects and surfaces you touch frequently.
  • Maintain social distancing of 6 feet away from others.
  • Do not enter any restricted areas or procedural rooms unless requested by a physician/clinician.
  • Limit movement throughout facilities to only areas essential to conduct your business service.

We thank you for your partnership during this evolving situation.