Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | October 15, 2018 | wbjournal.com The Question 1 ballot initiative is pitting nurses against hospital administration Acute-care hospitals... ... for additional registered nurses required .................................................................................... $256 million to $379 million ... for wage increases for existing RNs ........................................................................................... $184 million to $276 million ... for ongoing acuity tools and other maintenance costs ................................................................ $26 million Psychiatric/substance use disorder hospitals... ... for additional registered nurses required .................................................................................... $48 million to $51 million ... for wage increases for existing RNs ........................................................................................... $1 million to $2 million Costs to other non-hospital providers for wage increases for existing RNs ............................ $93 million to $104 million Costs to the state for implementation at state-operated hospitals .......................................... $67.8 million to $74.8 million TOTAL ............................................................................................................................................ $676 million to $949 million BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor L abor-versus-management fights usually take place in a meeting room, or maybe on the picket lines. is one will take place at the polls. Massachusetts voters will go to the ballot Nov. 6 to decide whether limits should be placed on how many patients are assigned to a registered nurse at a hospital or other care facility. Question 1 has sharply divided the nursing community, with a major union, the Massachusetts Nurses Asso- ciation, in favor of the proposal. Other industry groups – including the Massa- chusetts Health & Hospital Association and the American Nurses Association of Massachusetts – are against the propos- al, as are the administrations at many of the hospitals they represent. For at least some nurses, the ballot question is a chance to make up for staff- ing shortages they say have le too few nurses caring for too many patients. Lyn Flagg, an emergency department nurse at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, said she's seen patient work- loads get worse in the past five years. "My assignments can be horrifically unsafe," said the Shrewsbury resident and a nurse for over 25 years. "It's impos- sible to keep up with appropriate care." For hospital administrations, the mandated ratios would bring what they say are heavy costs. Milford Regional Medical Center predicted a devastating impact if the patient-to-nurse ratio is approved. High- er costs associated with higher staffing levels could hit nearly $5 million, the hospital said, which would result in bed closures, reduced patient services and delayed upgrades in technologies. "e unintended consequences of this ballot question would reverse all of the progress we have made in patient care in the last decade," said Judy Kelly, Milford vice president of patient care services. Heywood Hospital in Gardner said it would face $1 million in additional costs in its emergency department alone, while UMass Memorial Health Care has estimated its additional costs would hit $36 million to $40 million annually, all but ensuring personnel and programs would have to be cut elsewhere. Finding & paying more nurses e staffing threshold would elevate nursing staffing above all other care- givers, which is not in the best interest of the organization or patient care, Eric Dickson, the president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care, wrote in a blog post last month. Douglas Brown, UMass' chief ad- ministrative officer, said a passing of Source: Massachusetts Health Policy Commission Question 1 costs In early October, the state's Health Policy Commission released a study finding if Question 1 passes, additional staffing costs could total an estimted $949 million each year for Massachusetts hospitals. That was the upper end of a range not including emergency and outpatient departments, which lacked sufficient staffing data. Becker College Professor Enoh Ukpong trains nursing students as part of the school's new master's of science in nursing program. If Question 1 passes, the demand for nurses will increase. Labor vs. management, at the polls

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