MNA Legislative Update, March 16, 2013

Standards of Care Update

The Standards of Care Act, our bill to establish patient assignments limits, had its third hearing today in the House Health and Human Services Policy committee. The bill passed with amendments, despite serious objections from the hospitals. As amended, the bill has a narrower focus than its original version, but a delivers a victory for patients and nurses by laying a strong foundation for documenting the crisis of patient risk in Minnesota that nurses witness every day. In fact, Committee Chair Rep. Tina Liebling of Rochester offered a strong endorsement of MNA’s concerns when she stated “there is broad agreement that there is a problem.”

By no means, however is the work done. We will keep pushing ahead in the House and Senate to get the strongest language as possible passed and signed into law.

While nurses have known for years that staffing is a problem and patients are at risk, we have learned through the process of advocating for this bill that legislators still have questions and want to see Minnesota-specific data. Dozens of studies show that patient outcomes improve with better nurse staffing, but none of those studies focus on patient care in Minnesota. We need data from Minnesota hospitals that illustrates the impact of nurse staffing on specific patient outcomes (like failure to rescue, cardiac arrest, infections, falls and pressure ulcers).

MNA strategically opted to focus on issues of transparency and reporting. This version of the bill will require hospitals to report nurse staffing to the public and creates a work group to study the correlation between staffing and patient outcomes. This language will allow us to shine a brighter light on the problem. For the first time, in addition to the word of nurses and patients, we will have hard data that will illustrate that there is a public health crisis in Minnesota hospitals. The amendment is a win for patients who will be empowered with information about staffing for the first time.

The next hearing of the bill will be in the Senate Health and Human Services Policy Committee on Monday, March 18 at noon in Room 15 of the Capitol. Can you be there? Can you call or email your senator today? We have to turn up the volume in order to get the best possible bill passed. Please use the Grassroots Action Center today to contact your legislators.

Health Insurance Exchange This week a conference committee of representatives and senators met to iron out differences between the two versions of the Health Insurance Exchange bill, a key provision of the Affordable Care Act, that will create a marketplace for individuals and small businesses to comparison shop for health insurance. The full House passed the conference report early on Friday morning and the Senate is expected to take it up soon.

Governor’s Budget Governor Dayton released a revised budget proposal this week, removing one controversial tax proposal, but leaving in many of the provisions that MNA supports: an increased cigarette tax, increased income tax on the highest earners, and budget that is more fair for working families.

Town Hall Meetings These are great opportunities to build relationships with your legislators and educate them and your neighbors about nursing issues. If you know of a town hall event that isn’t listed here, please email Geri Katz at geri.katz@mnnurses.org

Saturday, March 16

Representative Jay McNamar and Representative Paul Marquart

Presentation: “Putting Our Kids on the Path to the World’s Best Workforce” and discussion

Saturday, March 16, 10:00 am

Morris City Council Chambers, Stevens County Senior Center, 603 Oregon Ave, MORRIS

Saturday, March 23

Representative Barb Yarusso Coffee and Conversation

Saturday, March 23, 9:00am – 11:00am

Raz’s Coffee and Ice Cream Café, 1048 Highway 96 W, SHOREVIEW, MN 55126

Monday, March 25