Adopting paid family and medical leave in radiology: 7 considerations
Momentum has gradually built around the idea of granting paid family and medical leave in radiology, with several professional organizations endorsing the idea. Experts from the specialty recently shared advice on how imaging leaders can begin adopting such policies in their organizations.
About two years ago, the American Board of Radiology revealed its new vacation and family leave policy, granting residents up to eight weeks of time off during the academic year. The American College of Radiology also followed suit in 2022 with a resolution calling for 12 weeks of annual paid family medical leave to team members wishing to care for a new baby or sick relative.
In an invited review article published May 17 in AJR, imaging experts highlighted these developments as signs that “paid FML is increasingly being recognized as an important issue in medicine.”
“Paid family and medical leave has significant benefits to organizations, including improvements in employee recruitment and retention, workplace culture, and employee morale and productivity, and is supported by evidence for overall cost savings,” Kirti Magudia, MD, PhD, with the Duke University School of Medicine, and co-authors wrote in the American Journal of Roentgenology.
The writers offered a list of seven considerations for radiology departments aiming to adopt such changes. Magudia and colleagues emphasized “the need for clear, comprehensive, and inclusive policies that, at the minimum, meet federal and state laws.”
Here are their seven considerations, in brief:
1) Ensure compliance with both governmental and accreditation guidelines. “Policy writers are recommended to have a clear understanding of federal, state and local laws, as well as institutional policies, with particular insight into how these laws and policies dovetail with the employee’s accrued leave,” the authors advised.
2) Understand the financial ramifications, as adopting a new policy in an unchanged financial framework can be challenging. “A detailed cost-benefit analysis of the impact of any policy on the department, divisions, and affected individuals should be performed to identify implementation barriers and to allow ample time to seek possible solutions, such as local or state funding sources for salary, benefit or disability support, and cost-sharing with employee-funded accounts and contributions.”
3) Be prepared by facilitating advanced preparations for any upcoming leave. “This planning allows all impacted parties to prepare appropriately and to make the necessary adjustment to schedules or workloads.”
4) Provide flexibility, as plans can often come undone due to unexpected changes or emergencies. “Provisions for these instances should be contemplated in advance. For instance, bookending planned leave dates with grace periods may minimize the impact of sudden changes in leave plans.”
5) Address productivity concerns, with bonuses or promotions tied to metrics that are likely to falter for individuals on leave. “Policies should be crafted to account for these impacts in a non-punitive manner, for example, by prorating RVU expectations when leave is taken, and/or providing the option, if desired, to pause the ‘promotion clock’ during leave.”
6) Realize that culture matters, as a policy is worthless if employees aren’t comfortable using it or their teammates feel slighted picking up the slack. “Clinical and administrative leadership play an important role in this regard by ensuring that all employees are aware of their leave entitlements under any policy. This information should be communicated explicitly at the time of orientation or onboarding, well before the need for leave is required.”
7) Consider the impact after the employee returns to work. “The instigating factor for leave-taking may persist beyond the leave period, most notably when parental leave is taken, or when the employee is managing a chronic illness. Paid FML policies need to integrate with accommodations for childcare, breastfeeding, or ongoing medical appointments. Programs providing psychological support for conditions associated with FML, such as postpartum depression or bereavement, should concurrently be considered.”
Read much more in the link below.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.