NURSES
Nurses, Patients Voice Concerns Over Avoidable Hospital Staffing Crisis The whole system seems to be “missing something” when it reaps massive profits but can’t keep hospitals properly staffed. But the crisis can’t be explained simply by an overall “shortage” of nurses. The real cause of the staffing squeeze might be the tight fists of hospital CEOs, who don’t want to invest in maintaining an adequate, qualified workforce.
HEALTH CARE
Tax-Exempt Hospitals Eyed Amid State Budget Gaps Following through on a promise, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn announced more than two months ago that the state would resume denying tax exemptions to hospitals that operate more like businesses than charities.
Blog: What’s the Danger of Not Listening to Frontline Staff? We continue to take for granted our most cherished resources (our frontline staff). These people are in the know, they are passionate, they care, and they are the ones who are most connected to our patients.
Oregon’s $2B Medicaid Bet Gov. John Kitzhaber, a Democrat and a former emergency room doctor, has convinced the federal government that he has a way to make Medicaid treatment better, and cheaper, by completely changing the way the sickest people in Oregon get health care.
LABOR
Caterpillar Workers Reject Contract; Strike Goes On Of roughly 800 workers at the plant, 620 voted, and 81 percent of them rejected the proposed contract. Union official Steve Jones said they did so because proposed pay raises were too small and it included higher health-care costs.