COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates: Impact on Radiology Department Operations and Mitigation Strategies.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Infectious Disease Epidemiology
• Radiology Operations

Background:

• COVID-19 vaccine mandates are increasingly common in US health systems.
• The impact of these mandates on radiology department workforce and operations is not well understood.
• Vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers presents a potential challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of COVID-19 vaccine mandates on a large, multicenter radiology department.
• To identify strategies for mitigating potential negative effects of vaccine mandates.
• To analyze vaccine compliance rates within the radiology workforce.

Main Methods:

• Collected weekly vaccine compliance data for health system employees (August-September 2021).
• Extracted and analyzed radiology department-specific compliance data.
• Mapped compliance data to job titles and hospital locations.

Main Results:

• 6% of radiology employees were not fully vaccine compliant by the initial deadline.
• MR technologists (37%) and radiology assistants (38%) had the highest initial noncompliance rates.
• Noncompliance rates varied by hospital site (0.5%-7.0%), with minimal impact on imaging hours.

Conclusions:

• Despite initial concerns, vaccine mandates had little operational effect due to improved compliance.
• Understanding employee and locoregional compliance differences is key for proactive mitigation.
• This study provides insights for managing workforce challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.