Battle for Increased Patient Safety Heats Up in Worcester Hospitals

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

The health care debate – patient safety and care specifically – is heating up in Central Massachusetts with a statewide organization taking the charge on pushing two bills to legislative action or a vote.

In an effort to get Massachusetts legislature to act upon two bills that would help to increase patient safety in hospitals and require hospitals to be transparent on their finances, the Massachusetts Nurses Association has gathered a total of more than 50,000 signatures.

“There is no other area of Massachusetts that needs this legislation passed more than Central Massachusetts,” said David Schildmeier, Director of Public Communications at Massachusetts Nurses Association. “Patients everyday are suffering and staying longer in our hospitals because of a lack of proper care. And while these hospitals are losing access to valuable services and gutting their staffs, hospital CEOs are stuffing their pockets with money.”

Schildmeier says that UMass Memorial and other hospitals in Central Massachusetts consistently rank toward the bottom in terms of readmission rates meaning that the ailment in question was not attended to properly the first time around. If legislative action is not taken on these two bills, they will go to a ballot vote in November.

Gaining Support

To show that the bills are supported by more than just the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the organization hired an outside group to conduct a survey. 700 voters from throughout Massachusetts were polled at random; these survey participants were read the bills and asked whether it was something that they were in favor of or not.

Of the 700 polled, nearly seven in ten were in support of the Patient Safety Act while six in ten were supportive of the Hospital Profit Transparency and Fairness Act. For both bills, 23-percent were opposed with the rest being undecided.

“We are thrilled that the public is so receptive to both of these important initiatives. It’s a testament to how important the issues of safe patient limits and hospital financial transparency are to the public,” said RN Donna Kelly-Williams, President of the MNA/NNU. “Many voters were shocked to learn that there is currently no limit on the number of patients hospitals can assign to a registered nurse at one time. And most voters expressed outrage that hospitals are storing tax dollars in offshore accounts and paying their CEOs excessive compensation, while hospital administrators cut services vital to communities.”

A Strong Opposition

Support among voters, nurses, and doctors may be prevalent, but many hospitals, CEOs, and associations are still opposed to both bills.

The Massachusetts Hospital Association is one organization who has shown strong opposition to both bills, stating that hospitals in Central Massachusetts are doing a fine job; no intervention by the government is needed.

Rather than being something that can help patients, the MHA views the pending bills as something that would restrict resources therefore making patient care worse, not better.

“The MNA has taken government-mandated staffing ratios to the ballot because they have failed to get it passed in the Legislature for the last 15 years,” said the Massachusetts Hospital Association in a statement, one echoed by many of the local hospitals, including UMass Memorial. “The Legislature recognizes that it is a bad idea, one that would unnecessarily restrict the clinical judgment of doctors and nurses, who provide the best care in the country, at a time when healthcare is changing dramatically.”

A Different Approach

Massachusetts Medical Society is another organization that opposes both bills. Rather than completely shooting both down, however, the organization says that many within the healthcare field could work together to solve some of the issues at hand.

MMS believes that the two feuding organizations should work together to come up with a mutual agreement that benefits everyone, rather than forcing the issue one way or another.

According to the Massachusetts Medical Society, defining nursing ratios has not been proven effective in making patients more save. In California – the one state where such requirements exist – hospitals have not seen much of a difference in patient safety since the law was implemented.

“In considering our opposition to this proposal, we should note that the Massachusetts Medical Society has always advocated for the safety of all patients in Massachusetts health care facilities,” said Richard Peters, MD, President of the Massachusetts Medical Society. “The MMS believes that the utilization of our nursing colleagues should be reviewed to determine how much of their current responsibilities unrelated to direct patient contact could be reduced by either absolute reduction or transfer to non-nursing personnel, giving the nurses more time to spend with their patients.”

Related Slideshow: Central MA Non-Profit Hospital CEO Pay, From Least To Most

Here are the total annual compensation amounts for the CEOs of the four non-profit hospital groups in Central Massachusetts. The source is each hospital group’s latest available 990 Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, which is filed with the IRS and available at Guidestar.org. The CEOs are shown here, from lowest to highest total compensation.

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#4 Winfield Brown

Salary: $192,828

President and CEO, Heywood Healthcare, with campuses in Athol and Gardner

Note: Henry Heywood Memorial Hospital and Athol Memorial Hospital merged in January 2013 to form Heywood Health Care. Brown, who had been president and CEO of Athol Memorial, became head of Heywood Health Care in August 2011. Daniel Moen, who had been president and CEO of Henry Heywood Memorial, was terminated in January 2011. His total compensation for fiscal 2011 was $993,456.

Latest available 1099 filing: Athol Memorial

Latest available 1099 filing: Henry Heywood Memorial

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#3 Edward Moore

Salary: $461,607

President and CEO, Harrington Memorial Hospital, Southbridge

Latest available 1099 filing

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#2 Francis Saba

Salary: $603,232

CEO, Milford Regional Medical Center, Milford

Latest available 1099 filing

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#1 John O'Brien

Salary: $2,358,455

Former President and CEO, UMass Memorial Health Care, with campuses in Worcester, Clinton, Leominster, Marlboro and Palmer

Note: John O’Brien retired as president and CEO in January 2013. Dr. Eric Dickson, MD, became the new president and CEO the following month. The UMass Memorial news release announcing Dickson’s appointment did not include his compensation package. According to UMass Memorial’s latest available 1099 form, Dickson received a total of $650,589 in compensation during the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2012.

Latest available 1099 filing