Massachusetts hospitals say setting patient limits for nurses will cost $1B
A report commissioned by the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association found it would cost the state’s hospitals nearly $1 billion a year to comply with a proposed ballot initiative to set limits on the number of patients a hospital can assign to a nurse per shift.
As reported by the Boston Globe, the industry-backed study said the limits would require hospitals to hire more than 5,900 nurses in just 37 business days, costing facilities $1.3 billion in its first year and more than $900 million per year after that thanks to recruitment, training and turnover costs, as well as increased salaries thanks to the higher demand for nurses who are already hard to find.
“This independent report lays bare the severe, damaging impacts this proposal will have on our patients, our nurses, our hospitals, and the entire health-care ecosystem,” Steve Walsh, president of the association, said in a statement. “Every single piece of data we uncover leads us to the same conclusion. It is unconscionable to continue down this destructive path.”
Under the ballot initiative, there would be variation between hospital units on how many patient assignments can be given to a single nurse. For a typical medical or surgical patient, the limit would be no more than four patients for one nurse—a staffing regulation the hospital association opposes but which the state’s largest nurses union said are needed to guarantee quality care.
“This report is just a longer version of the scare tactics and the elitist profit-centered threats we keep seeing from the hospital executives,” said Kate Norton, a vice president at the consulting firm CK Strategies who works for the union’s ballot campaign. “This paints a picture of the ‘sky is falling’—that’s not what this is.”
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John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.