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On:
In: Allina, Home, Insurance, Nurses

By Mathew Keller RN JD

MNA Regulatory and Policy Specialist

“In Minnesota, like the rest of the country, our health care system is in crisis. Healthcare premiums have increased at double-digit levels year-after-year. Employers are being squeezed by these costs, and healthcare has become prohibitively expensive for many self-employed, retired, and uninsured citizens. In this climate, nonprofit healthcare organizations owe a heightened duty to show proper stewardship.”

This was testimony offered to the U.S. Senate Finance committee not this week, not this year, not even this decade—but on April 5, 2005, by then-Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch. It was spurred in part by a comprehensive audit performed by the Attorney General’s office on Allina Health and its subsidiary insurance company, Medica.
… Read more about: With Allina-Aetna Insurance Partnership, It’s Buyer Beware  »

On:
In: Allina, Home, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Nurses

By Mathew Keller

MNA Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

Allina’s final estimate of how much money it wasted on labor strife is in, with the health system pegging its total strike costs at 149 million dollars. As Allina employees know, however, this number is an underestimate. While the estimate includes the cost of shipping replacement nurses into Minnesota and paying them hourly rates that would make a cardiologist blush, and subtracts the costs Allina would have paid its trusted nurses were they not on strike– it does not account for the fact that Allina has been and will continue to pay eye-popping sums for replacement nurses well into 2017 due to the extreme level of nurse-turnover post-strike.
… Read more about: What can $149 million get you?  »

On:
In: Activism, Health Care Reform, Healthcare, Home, Politics, Single Payer

By Rose Roach

MNA Executive Director

 

The Minnesota Nurses Association supports the Minnesota Health Act as proposed by Roseville Senator John Marty and Northfield Representative David Bly (SF 219/HF358). We say loudly and enthusiastically, it’s about time. Finally, we see the proven solution to the healthcare crisis that rages on in this state and in this country.

Nurses don’t care about your insurance card or your credit card—the only card they’re interested in is your get-well card. As natural advocates for their patients and front line workers in the healthcare world, who better to articulate the reality of a system that puts corporate greed over human need?
… Read more about: Nurses Support the Minnesota Health Act  »

On:
In: Allina, Home

By Mat Keller, RN, JD, MNA Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

What does the Allina strike mean for non-Allina nurses? I’m sure if you’re a nurse in Minnesota, Iowa, or Wisconsin, you’ve asked yourself a similar question. And it’s not unreasonable. What, exactly, does the Allina strike mean for the profession?

Nothing less than our future.

Allina Health is a corporate entity that has managed to build up $1.3 billion in stock market reserves, $160 million in Caribbean bank accounts, and $300 million in cash, according to its most recent federal Form 990 financial disclosures.
… Read more about: Why the Allina strike continues to matter  »

On:
In: HCMC, Home, Nurses

By Mathew Keller RN, JD

Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

In a recent communication to its employees, HCMC claims that this space’s use of HCMC’s Form 990 financial disclosures to the IRS are misleading. Why? The Form 990 “includes as income $20 million in county capital funding that is restricted for maintaining our county-owned facilities and one-time capital funding for the new building.”

In order to get a better picture of HCMC’s finances, HCMC asks the reader to discount from the County hospital’s finances the money the County hospital receives from the County for maintenance of “old” buildings and construction of a “new” building. 
… Read more about: Fact Check: Does Money from the County Count as Revenue?  »

On:
In: HCMC, Home, Hospitals, layoffs, Nurses

By Mathew Keller, RN JD

Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

Hennepin County Medical Center’s 2015 numbers are in, and many HCMC employees on the chopping block might be surprised by them. Despite HCMC’s public statements contributing layoffs to a “financial challenge,” 2015 was its second-most profitable year on record as the healthcare system pocketed $28.6 million in net income—up from $11.5 million in 2014.

HCMC’s MNA nurses are calling on HCMC CEO Jon Pryor to act with more transparency regarding these layoffs. This is not a good start for Dr. Pryor, who stated in an all-employee email on December 9, 2016, “if you’ve been paying attention to the media, you know that HCMC is not the only healthcare organization facing a financial challenge right now.” Only two months prior, the CEO had signed off on the financial report showing the huge 2015 net income increase.
… Read more about: HCMC Doubles Profits in 2015  »

On:
In: Home, Nurses, Press Releases, Uncategorized

Contact:  Rick Fuentes

(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.orgBarbara Brady
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
barbara.brady@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – December 16, 2016 – Nurses are once again the most honest and ethical profession in the U.S., according to a Gallup poll released today.Nurses’ honesty and ethics were rated very high or high by 84 percent of respondents in the annual survey.

They were followed by pharmacists, medical doctors, engineers, and dentists.

It’s the 15th year in a row that Americans rated nurses as the most trusted profession.

“The public gets it – nurses put patients first,” said MNA President Mary Turner.
… Read more about: Press Release: Nurses most honest and ethical profession for 15th consecutive year  »

On:
In: Home

By: Mathew Keller, RN JD, Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

It’s no secret that Hennepin County Medical Center has been contemplating layoffs—they announced as much at the beginning of December, and received Hennepin County Board of Commissioners approval for such layoffs this past week. Not so clear, however, is why they think layoffs are necessary. As the rate of health insurance coverage reaches historical highs, is our local county hospital really facing difficult financial times?

HCMC CEO Jon Pryor seems to be hinting at as much.  In a December 9 communication to HCMC employees, he stated, “If you’ve been paying attention to the media, you know that HCMC is not the only healthcare organization facing a financial challenge right now.”

But MNA nurses have been paying attention to the media, and this is what they’ve found: hospital profits in this state are running at an all-time high.
… Read more about: HCMC nurses want answers to questions about potential layoffs  »