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Allina Strike

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In: Action, Allina, Home, Hospitals, Nurses, Patient Safety

By Veronica Jacobsen


Veronica Jacobsen

Veronica Jacobsen, BA, CD(DONA), CLC, CPST, LCCE, FACCE

 

 

Reprinted with permission from Baby Love Minnesota blog.  The author is an instructor in childbirth classes.  Information is available here: Here’s info on my classes: http://www.babylovemn.com/classes-at-babylove/

I have been blogging for almost exactly 5 years in this space, and maternity care outcomes and transparency hold a special place in my heart. I don’t know if anyone gets as excited as I do when new info comes out. After a lot of thought over the weekend, I am posting this.
… Read more about: Mom Says Allina Strike Puts Birthing Families in Danger  »

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In: Allina, Home, Press Releases

Contact:  Rick Fuentes

(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Barbara Brady

(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
barbara.brady@mnnurses.org

 

Minneapolis – September 7, 2016 – Nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association are requesting to present their case for a fair contract directly to the Allina Health Board of Directors.  Nurses believe the Allina negotiating team is not delivering accurate information to hospital leadership and the board, which is prolonging the strike.“Allina Health will spend $20 million every week the nurses are on strike,” said Rose Roach, MNA executive director.  “How can the stewards of a not-for-profit healthcare company allow that to happen when we were just $2 million away from a deal at the bargaining table?”

Talks between Allina negotiators and the nurses’ negotiating team broke off at 6 a.m.
… Read more about: Press Release: Nurses Take Their Case for a Contract to the Allina Board of Directors  »

On:
In: Allina, Home

By Mathew Keller, RN JD
Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist 

It’s been well reported that Allina Health, a $3.9-billion nonprofit healthcare organization, “invested” $108 million in Health Catalyst, a private for-profit technology company. As part of the deal, Allina is outsourcing its “data warehousing, analytics, performance improvement technology, and personnel to Health Catalyst.” In fact, the money Allina spends on Health Catalyst “represents the cost of what the staff and tools” were costing Allina, according to Allina CEO Penny Wheeler. In other words, Allina took a segment of its business and paid to outsource it to a for-profit company.
… Read more about: With nurses on the outside, Allina CEO focuses her attention on the real issues: Health Catalyst  »

On:
In: Allina, Bargaining, Home, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Unsafe Staffing

Dear MNA Allina nurses,

This is long, but important.  As your Executive Director I was present for the 22 hour marathon bargaining session that just ended mere hours ago. I understand Allina has, as usual, communicated with all of you before we were able to do so (a clear divide and conquer tactic that they have become oh so good at) so I wanted to get this out to you. Please note, that communication from Allina lists the elements of their proposal but not the details because they want you to demand to vote on their proposal without knowing what that proposal will really mean for you – don’t fall for it, it’s Allina trying to cause division within the union.
… Read more about: A Letter to Our Valued MNA Nurses  »

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In: Allina, Essentia, Home, Nurses Strike

What’s taking Allina Health so long?

By Barbara Brady

MNA Communications Specialist

While MNA nurses in Duluth and Superior were working to reach a tentative agreement with Essentia Health on a new three-year contract this week, MNA nurses in the Twin Cities were preparing for a second strike against Allina Health.

Why is this a tale of two or four cities? There’s no reason Allina can’t follow Essentia’s lead and negotiate a contract that benefits the nurses and their employer.  Nurses really do put the care in healthcare.  They provide the value for the hospital.  Often, they are the first and last faces a patient sees when they’re admitted and discharged.
… Read more about: Essentia Hospitals Come to an Agreement with Nurses  »

On:
In: Activism, Allina, Home, Labor Unions, Nurses, Nurses Strike

By Mathew Keller, RN JD
Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

We’ve detailed at length the connections between Piper Jaffray and Allina. Piper Jaffray, as you recall, served as a broker/dealer to a 2007 “Auction Rate Security” bond offering that ultimately led Allina to sue. Allina claimed that the other broker-dealer (UBS) knew the Auction Rate Security market would fail mere months after the bond offering, but, interestingly, Allina did not make that claim against Piper. This transaction caused Allina to lose tens of millions of dollars in penalty interest rates, interest rate swaps, and early termination fees when it refinanced the bonds.
… Read more about: MNA Requests Meeting with US Bank in order to Save Allina Money  »

On:
In: Activism, Allina, Home, Nurses, Politics

By Mathew Keller, RN JD
Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

 

Despite all of its bad deals and big debts, Allina Health is still making piles of money. As this space detailed back in June, Allina has made more than $1.3 billion dollars in net revenue over the past 6 years for which financial disclosures are available. That’s after expenses, including salaries, $23.9 million in executive pay, millions to buy out McDonalds’ lease, $60 million lost on bad loans, and so on.

While Allina is a not-for-profit company, it still has to pay taxes on things like capital gains.
… Read more about: Where Are Your Medicare Dollars Taking a Vacation?  »

On:
In: Allina, Home, Nurses Strike, Press Releases

Contact: Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Barbara Brady
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
barbara.brady@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – August 26, 2016 – Nurses represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association filed a 10-day notice of intent to strike with Allina Health Friday morning. Nurses will begin an open-ended Unfair Labor Practice strike beginning at 7 a.m. on Monday, September 5, Labor Day.

“Nurses sent a message to Allina again last week with an overwhelming vote to reject the employer’s latest offer and authorize a strike,” said MNA Executive Director Rose Roach. “Nurses are exercising the voice they have, and as of 6 a.m.
… Read more about: Press Release: MNA Nurses Set to Strike Allina Health on Labor Day  »

On:
In: Essentia, Home, Patient Safety, Press Releases

Contact: Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Barbara Brady
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
barbara.brady@mnnurses.org

(Duluth) – August 19, 2016 – After months of trying to negotiate a fair contract, MNA nurses at Twin Ports Essentia Health hospitals are going to the public with their concerns about the hospital system’s refusal to respond to safe staffing proposals by sponsoring billboards in Superior and Duluth.

The billboards read, “Has Essentia lost the care in healthcare? Ask an MNA nurse about staffing.”

“Nurses hope that publicly calling Essentia out on our concerns over safe staffing will bring them back to the negotiating table ready to agree to a contract that benefits all involved: nurses, our hospitals, patients, and our community,” said Essentia Twin Ports MNA Co-Chair Steve Strand.
… Read more about: Press Release: Nurses sponsor billboards to call attention to Essentia’s refusal to negotiate safe staffing  »

On:
In: Allina, Home, Hospitals, Nurses

By Mathew Keller

Integrity. Respect. Trust. Compassion. Stewardship. These are the core values of Allina Health. The Oxford dictionary defines integrity as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.” So why, then, does Allina continue to tell its nurses that it needs to shift $10 million in healthcare costs to them? In 1,664 pages of financial disclosures to the IRS and its bond investors from 2001–2014, Allina never once represents that it is anything but highly profitable, making a reported $1.3 billion dollars in net revenue over the past 6 years alone.
… Read more about: Allina Health Integrity and Irony  »