HEALTHCARE BUSINESS ALERT
Senator
Edward M. Kennedy proposed legislation last week that calls for up to $10,000
in civil penalties against hospitals that force nurses to work extra hours
after completing a shift. Under the bill, nurses would be allowed to work
overtime voluntarily, but their employers could not require that they work
extra hours after a shift unless an official state of emergency is declared by
the federal, state, or local government. About 2,100,000 nurses would be
affected, Kennedy said. .Kennedy's bill was filed about seven months after a 2004
study by the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing revealed that nurses
who worked 12.5 hours or longer were three times more likely to make errors
than nurses who worked a regular 8˝ hour
shift. Kennedy said
CONGRESSIONAL BILL TO SET NATIONAL NURSING RATIOS
A bill introduced in the U.S. House of
Representatives would mandate specific nurse-to-patient ratios by 2007 and
require hospitals to develop staffing plans. Hospital costs incurred because of
the new ratios would be partly offset by increased Medicare reimbursement. The
proposal, introduced by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) in conjunction with
National Nurse
HOSPITAL
CAPACITY TO EXPAND,
BUT WHERE
WILL THE CAPITAL & THE NURSES COME FROM?
CMS estimates that acute care bed needs will
increase capacity by 20% to 28% by 2012. Solucient recently predicted a 46%
increase in beds needed by 2027. By Solucient’s estimates, CMS Actuaries will
require 18% more beds by 2012. The question for the future is not whether more
beds will be needed, but whether hospitals will have sufficient capital to
build them and have the nurses to staff them. -- by Stuart Altman &
David Shactman, Modern Healthcare.
For
information call, Email or visit with us at: www.nsinursingsolutions.com
Robert
L. Valasek Marc
L. Colosi
General Manager, Business
Development Chairman/CEO
717-575-5060 717-575-4050
Bvalasek@nsinursingsolutions.com Marccolosi@nsinursingsolutions.com