Mayo nurses, legislators to speak out on Mayo threats to patient care and transparency (Page 12)

Contact: Sam Fettig
(c) 612-741-0662
sam.fettig@mnnurses.org

Lauren Nielsen
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – May 7, 2023 – Tomorrow, Monday, May 8, 2023, nurses working for Mayo Clinic Health System will be joined by state legislators to respond to threats by health executives to withdraw billions in investments if their “blackmail” demands are not met to kill legislation to retain nurses and improve staffing to protect patient care. Tomorrow, Mayo nurses will share why this legislation is needed at Mayo Clinic Health System facilities, and legislators – including chief authors Senator Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul) and Representative Sandra Feist (DFL-New Brighton) – will provide an update on efforts to reach a resolution on the critical bill for patient care and transparency and nurse retention.

Someday, all of us and our loved ones will need care in a hospital. When that day comes, we deserve to know our hospital will be staffed with highly-skilled healthcare professionals able to provide the quality care we need and deserve. While there are more registered nurses in Minnesota than ever before, half of all nurses are now considering leaving the profession, citing short staffing as their top concern. The bipartisan Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act is a comprehensive, compromise approach to nurse staffing and retention that would establish committees of direct care workers and management at Minnesota hospitals to discuss what works best for staffing for their patients on a hospital-by-hospital, unit-by-unit level. The bill also includes additional nurse recruitment and retention solutions including workplace violence prevention and loan forgiveness programs.

The bill will provide critical transparency for the public as to the care conditions they can expect in hospitals throughout Minnesota. Recent moves by Mayo Clinic Health System demonstrate why this transparency is essential at the corporate health system. Recent investigations by the Rochester Post-Bulletin found Mayo was not informing patients that they qualified for charity care, instead suing them for medical bills, and recently began charging hidden “facility fees” that in some cases doubled patients’ bills. All patients – at every hospital in the state – deserve high quality care and transparency about what they can expect when they walk into a hospital.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON MAYO THREATS OVER BILL TO PROTECT PATIENT CARE

• When: Monday, May 8, 2023, 2:00 p.m.
• Where: Press Conference Room B971, Minnesota State Capitol, 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Saint Paul, MN 55155
• Who: Mayo nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association and legislators including chief authors Sen. Erin Murphy and Rep. Sandra Feist
• What: Press conference on Mayo threats to Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act
• Why: To explain why this bill is needed to protect patient care at every hospital, especially Mayo