At the recent Association of Occupational Health Professionals in Healthcare (AOHP) conference, Page Thompson, Director of Employee Health at Propelus, moderated a lively panel discussion titled The 5 Ws of Occupational/Employee Health Data: Who needs to know what – and when, where and why do they need it. Panelists Dawn Lantz, Corporate Director of Employee Health and Safety at McLaren Health from McLaren Health Care and Brad Fagan Product Manager from Propelus shared their perspectives on why data is at the heart of workforce safety and compliance. Ready to rethink how your organization manages employee health data? Here are three key takeaways to guide your strategy.
1. Protecting privacy builds trust
Employee health data touches sensitive areas from ADA requests to vaccination compliance. Dawn emphasized that keeping medical records separate from HR files is not just a compliance issue, it is a matter of trust: “Workers must be confident that their personal health information will be appropriately protected by the staff in our departments.”
Without that assurance, every other use of data risks eroding confidence and cooperation from employees.
2. Context is everything
Not all stakeholders need the same level of detail. Talent Acquisition and managers may need to know if an employee is cleared for duty, infection prevention teams track vaccination rates, and HR may be involved in FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) or reasonable suspicion cases. The key is to deliver the right data to the right people, while protecting sensitive information that does not belong in the wrong hands.
3. Technology turns data into an asset
Data requests rarely arrive on schedule. Flu season, onboarding, and surprise audits all put pressure on employee health teams. That is where technology makes the difference.
Brad shared how automation and integrations transform the process: bi-directional feeds from state immunization registries, electronic follow-up queues to replace paper “tickler files,” and secure systems that allow employees to submit documents from their own devices. With the right tools, data becomes less about paperwork and more about prevention, efficiency, and proactive safety.
Turning data into a force for good
Employee health data is not just about compliance. It is about protecting people. In healthcare, where workplace risks are higher, strong data practices directly support safety, well-being, and organizational resilience.
As Page summed it up:
“Who = Everyone. What = Everything. When = Yesterday. Where = The easiest place to find it. Why = Because it is vital to the health and safety of our teams, patients, and organizations.”
Propelus empowers employee health teams to manage data securely, efficiently, and meaningfully so you can focus less on manual entry and more on protecting your people. Learn more about how our Immuware employee health platform can help your organization streamline compliance processes by up to 40 percent here.
