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Attention MNA Nurses

Hospitals are making record profits despite the economic downturn. One alarming tactic that’s becoming more common is hospital debt collectors posing as health care staff to get payment from patients, sometimes before they’ve ever been treated. You may have seen recent news coverage about Attorney General Lori Swanson’s investigation of Accretive Health, the debt collectors that have been used by both Fairview and North Memorial. This practice raises ethical and legal questions about patient care and privacy.

Now U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) will chair a U.S. Senate field hearing at the Minnesota State Capitol to examine if current federal laws effectively protect patients’ access to care and privacy. 
… Read more about: Sen. Franken To Hold Hearing Related to Debt Collection Tactics  »

NURSES, LABOR, HEALTH CARE

Watch live as nurses lead an international call for the Robin Hood Tax that will heal the world.   

Live Stream from Chicago

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… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, May 18, 2012: RNs leading HUGE march in Chicago to heal the world  »

Nursing

Board of Nursing Seeking to Expand LPN Scope –  Listening Sessions Today  Bethel University, 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. MNBON proposals reflect a corporate health care employer’s dream to muddy the lines of responsibility between RNs and LPNs – allowing health care facilities to get more work for less money. It also pits our two practices in a fabricated fight that will only result in jeopardizing public safety.   Please attend!

NNU’s Rose Ann DeMoro Named To Most Influential Health Care Leaders List for 10th Straight Year   This year, DeMoro was placed at number 31 on the list which is dominated by government officials and corporate executives.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, May 17, 2012 – Practice scope issues discussed TODAY; SEIU tentative agreement; Docs Ditch Rx Pads  »

Notes on Nursing

National Nurse Licensure is DEAD (for now).  The House adjourned for the session in the wee hours of this morning, WITHOUT taking a final vote on the National Nurse Licensure Compact. That means it’s dead for this year. It will most likely come back next session, so stay tuned, but for now, be proud of all the calls, emails, letters and visits that nurses made to stop this dangerous bill!

Chicago Tries to Revoke Nurses’ Permit to March    What in the world?  The registered nurses of National Nurses United cannot wait to welcome one of the world’s leading defenders of common people to their uncommon May 18th march and rally in Chicago.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, May 10, 2012: Natl Nurse Licensure Dead; Nurses Will March in Chicago; HC Execs Make $1M A Year  »

What is this? The MNA Daily NewsScan is a round up the day’s biggest nursing, health care and organized labor stories.  As news unfolds in real-time, we update the NewsScan with new links and info, so check back often!

Stories we’re scanning:

Notes on Nursing

OpEd:  Why Nurses Need More Authority   Allowing nurses to act as primary-care providers will increase coverage and lower health-care costs. So why is there so much opposition from physicians? 

Statement in Support of Attorney General Lori Swanson   “On behalf of our 20,000 nurses, I want to thank Lori Swanson for ignoring political pressure and corporate influence and continuing to stand up for the patients we care for,” Hamilton said.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, May 8, 2012 – Doc says nurses need more authority; Kudos to AG Lori Swanson; Rally with SEIU  »

National Nurse Licensure Compact

The National Nurse Licensure Compact bill passed both the House and the Senate last week, and this week a Conference Committee of House and Senate members met to iron out differences between the two bills. MNA opposes the resulting conference report, which did little to address our concerns with the original bill. Signing on to the Compact will be bad for Minnesota patients, bad for our high nursing standards, and bad for nurses who want to organize or bargain fair contracts. Please use the link below to contact your state senator and state representative and ask them to vote against the Compact when it comes to a final floor vote.
… Read more about: Legislative Update, May 4, 2012  »

Attorney General:  Fairview Put Squeeze on Patients   Attorney General Lori Swanson said employees of the hospital system tried to collect upfront money from patients before treatment.

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Wisconsin Loses More Jobs Than Any Other State   The bureau’s figures show the state lost 23,900 jobs from March 2011 to March 2012. No other state lost more than 3,500 jobs, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/IpnExl).

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Live Tweeting:  Jill Burcum from the Congressional hearing on HMO spending.

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… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan  »

National Nurse Licensure Compact
The Compact is still moving on two different tracks. 1) A stand-alone bill is moving in both bodies, and passed a key committee in the House on Wednesday and passed the full Senate on Thursday. We anticipate it will be up for a full floor vote in the House very soon.  2) The Compact is also part of the Senate version of the Health and Human Services Omnibus Bill.

The Omnibus bill is currently in conference committee, where legislators are working out the differences between the two versions. As the conference committee wraps up its work, we are hopeful that the Compact will be removed from the HHS omnibus bill.
… Read more about: Legislative Update, April 20, 2012  »

MNA member Mary Kirsling wrote to her representative about her opposition to National Nurse Licensure.  Here’s why it is important to be alert and involved – we get results that mean the world to our patients!

A Note from Mary Kirsling:  “It is gratifying to have one’s representatives read and respond. And if anyone thinks that these emails lack power, I think the responses tell otherwise…

On Mon, 4/2/12, Kerry Gauthier <rep.kerry.gauthier@house.mn> wrote:

From: Kerry Gauthier <rep.kerry.gauthier@house.mn>
Subject: Re: national nurse licensure
Date: Monday, April 2, 2012, 9:50 AM

Thank you for contacting me to share your opposition to Minnesota’s participation in the Nurse Licensure Compact, which was proposed in 2011 with the introduction of House File 462.
… Read more about: MNA RN Voices Make a Difference on Nurse Licensure Compact  »