MA Senate Passes Bill to Set Safe Patient Limits for Nurses
Friday, June 27, 2014
The bill – H 4228 – would ensure that no nurse could be assigned more than one patient or in certain circumstances, no more than two patients based on the assessment of nurses on that particular unit.
"This is a landmark victory for patient safety. I applaud the House of Representatives and the State Senate for their leadership and work on behalf of Massachusetts patients,” said Donna Kelly-Williams, RN, president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United following the vote. “We thank Leader Rosenberg, Senate President Murray, Speaker DeLeo and Representative Denise Garlick for their leadership."
The Senate vote follows a similar vote in the House on Wednesday. The bill now moves to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.
Helping Patients and Nurses
The Massachusetts Nurses Association says that the bill will protect the most critically ill patients and help to extend the limits in all hospitals to better protect patients throughout the state.
If the bill is signed into law prior to July 2nd, the Massachusetts Nurses Association has agreed to pull two ballot initiatives – the Patient Safety Act and the Hospital Profit Transparency and Fairness Act – both which have proven to be controversial throughout the state. Both initiatives have enough signatures to go to a ballot vote in November.
“If signed by the Governor, this law breaks the decade-long logjam on Beacon Hill over the issue of establishing an enforceable maximum limit on the number of patients a nurse can care for at one time.” said Kelly-Williams.
A Mutual Agreement
While in strong opposition to the two ballot initiatives, the Massachusetts Hospital Association is in agreement that the bill passed through the Senate is a good move.
“The legislation just passed by the House and Senate, unlike the proposed ballot petition, appropriately keeps staffing decisions at the bedside and based on individual patient needs, the skills and experience of the entire care team, appropriate use of technology and the knowledge and expertise of our hospitals’ nurses and nurse managers,” said Lynn Nicholas, President and CEO of the Massachusetts Hospital Association. “The legislation focuses on Intensive Care Units, where there is a collaborative role for staff nurses, for nurses who manage care for all patients in an ICU, and for an acuity system to help determine the severity of an ICU patient’s illness. Importantly, the legislation leaves flexibility throughout the rest of the hospital to properly address every patient’s needs.”
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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