QUESTION:         We have a physician who requested a leave of absence for health reasons several months ago.  Her current appointment term will expire in three months. Should we send her a reappointment application and process her reappointment application while she is on leave?

ANSWER:             This issue comes up with some frequency.  Medical staff bylaws address the issue of reappointing a physician during a leave of absence (“LOA”) in different ways.  If your bylaws are silent on the issue of reappointment during an LOA, we recommend that you not try to reappoint the physician while she is on leave.  Instead, depending on how much time is left in the leave, you may consider sending the physician a letter advising her that her current appointment period is due to expire and that she will be required to submit her reappointment application at the same time she submits her request for reinstatement.  The letter should also inform the physician that both requests will be processed at the same time.

We understand that some hospitals try to reappoint physicians while they are on an LOA.  In our opinion, this is not very practical especially if there are medical or other issues that will need to be addressed with the physician as part of the reappointment process.  It is not a good idea to intrude on the physician’s LOA and it is also not a good idea to grant reappointment when there may be significant issues that need to be addressed.