POS-532 Living Organ Donor Wage Replacement Policy: one health care organization's experience

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Research findings list financial barriers to living organ donation as a potentially significant reason why individuals choose not to act as living organ donors. Past Alberta Health Services (AHS) salary replacement and benefit programs only partially addressed salary loss for living organ donors. The purpose of the wage replacement policy was (i) To lower known financial barriers to Living Donor Kidney Transplants (LKDTs) among eligible Alberta Health Services employees, and (ii) To increase the number of LDKTs through full wage replacement for eligible AHS employees during post-donation recovery. Methods: The Kidney Health Strategic Clinical Network and AHS Human Resources explored the feasibility of a policy intended to shield AHS employees from income loss during post-operative recovery from living organ and surgical bone marrow donation. In March 2018, AHS Executive Leadership Team endorsed a policy working group to develop a wage replacement policy. The AHS Living Organ Donor Wage Replacement Policy became effective January 21, 2019, which provides full wage replacement for eligible AHS employees during post-procedure recovery of 12 weeks (organ donation) or 7 days (surgical bone marrow donation). Results: Based on the 2018 average AHS annual salary of $90,000 and assuming a 12-week convalescence, estimates predicted wage replacement costs of $20,769 per living organ donated by an employee. Based on the living kidney donation rate in Alberta (2011-2016) and the number of eligible AHS Employees (2018), it was predicted 3 of AHS’ 100,000 employees would serve as living organ donors per year. Predicted annual organizational cost $62,307. Between January 19, 2019 and November 1, 2020, the number of employees accessing the policy exceeded the initial predictions of 3 AHS staff (unable to report specific dollar savings vs. number of staff given N<10), even in light of the COVID-19 pandemic where most LDKTs were postponed for several months ending June 2020. Conclusions: This policy was successfully implemented to limit AHS employees’ loss of income during post-operative recovery from living organ and surgical bone marrow donation, and uptake exceeded initial projections without putting significant financial strain on AHS. Conflict of Interest All funding provided as in-kind support through Alberta Health Services