Washington Health Corps COVID-19 FAQs

My employment status has changed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This might include the following:

My site has asked or is requiring me to transition to 100% telework or conduct all clinical work via telehealth; or
My service site has assigned/deployed me to an alternative location to accommodate patient triage, isolation, surge or care in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Is this allowable, and will this time count towards Washington Health Corps service hours?

At the direction of your site, you may do the following through the duration of the COVID-19 national emergency:

Shift your regular clinical service to patients to be delivered via telehealth/telemedicine to accommodate infection control, social distancing, or other appropriate measure to assist in meeting recommended outbreak reduction/control measures. Participants may provide virtual check-in services via telephone, audio/video, secure text messaging, email, or use of a patient portal.
Shift your regular clinical service to changes in type of services offered such as increase/decrease in administrative duties.
Receive service credit for clinical care to patients impacted by COVID-19 at temporary locations.
Receive service credit for working temporarily at another preapproved site.

If you will be working at a different site than what is currently listed on your contract, please contact health@wsac.wa.gov to receive the paperwork necessary to add another site to your contract.

I will not be able to meet the service hour requirements of my contract because my site has closed, implemented furloughs/layoffs/reduced hours, or temporarily eliminated clinical service hours due to the COVID-19 epidemic. What options do I have?

Through the duration of the public health emergency, you may request a deferment of your Washington Health Corps service obligation (up to one year), if:

You are unable to meet minimum service hour requirements (per your contract) and
Anticipate exceeding your allotted days away (35.7 for federal participants and 40 for state participants for the contract year period).

This will allow you to remain compliant, while extending your obligation end date by a timeframe equal to the approved deferment period.

I am a participant and one of the following situations applies:

I am pregnant and/or have an underlying health condition.
I and/or a loved one am/is currently experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or have tested positive and will need to take extended leave to receive/provide appropriate care and or self-quarantine;
I am currently unable to return to my site due to travel restrictions and/or mandatory quarantine requirements.

How do I remain in compliance with program requirements during this time?

If you exceed or expect to exceed your allotted leave time for the contract year, you may request a deferment of your service obligation (up to one year). This will allow you to remain compliant, while extending your obligation end date by a time frame equal to the approved deferment period.

I am unable to verify my service or complete service verification forms due to the following circumstances:

My site representative has been displaced or furloughed due to COVID-19, and is unable to complete the form; or
My site has closed and my site representative has not/cannot verified my service.

What should I do?

We understand there may be delays and/or challenges in obtaining appropriate verification documentation because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

If you and/or your site representative experience issues completing verification documentation due to COVID-19, contact us at health@wsac.wa.gov to discuss alternate options for obtaining verification forms and/or request a verification deadline extension.