News

The Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation released a report last week focusing on the health and safety of the health care workforce and calling upon health care organizations to initiate broad organizational changes to reduce physical and psychological harm to health care workers. Through the Eyes of the Workforce: Creating Joy, Meaning, and Safer Health Care contends that patient safety is inextricably linked to health care workers’ safety and well-being because caregivers who suffer disrespect, humiliation, or physical harm are more likely to make errors or fail

Hospital officials at Tacoma General Hospital and 650 nurses represented by the Washington State Nurses Association are hoping a new session with a federal mediator scheduled for March 28 will help the two sides reach a new labor pact between the hospital and some 650 nurses represented by the Washington State Nurses Association. Read the article from The News Tribune here.

One of the biggest threats to the success of President Obama’s health care law comes from shortages of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. But a 15-member commission created to investigate the problem has never met in two and a half years because it has no money from Congress or the administration. Read the article in the New York Times here.

Follow the money. That’s what veteran journalist Steven Brill does in an important and insightful cover story for Time magazine detailing why our medical bills are so high. From an $84 bag of saline solution to a $21,000 bill for a case of heartburn, Brill documents why America’s health care costs are so high—and how we can reel them in.

Read the full article here: http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/

The Obama administration on Wednesday issued its long-awaited final rule on what states and insurers must do to provide the essential health benefits required in the individual and small-group market beginning in 2014 under the healthcare reform law. Read the full article in Reuters here.

Senator Rand Paul (R) introduced a federal so-called “right to work” law (S. 204) on January 31st that would amend the National Labor Relations Act to bar the inclusion of union security clauses in collective bargaining agreements, which would undermine labor organizing nationwide.

“Right to work laws, in fact, inhibit the rights of workers by limiting the ability of RNs, teachers, police officers and other workers in both private and public sectors to successfully advocate for fair working wages and benefits that protect them and the people they serve, said NFN president Barbara Crane, RN.

Nurses need to make their voices heard when decisions are being made, both at the institutional level and at the policy level, according to Susan Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN who spoke at the Oregon Center for Nursing conference last week on the future of nursing leadership. Read the article in the Lund Report here.

The Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) is pleased to announce the ratification of a new historic partnership agreement to expand the opportunities, resources and voice for our members.

On February 8, 2013, WSNA’s national union, the National Federation of Nurses (NFN), voted to approve an affiliation agreement to affiliate with AFT, the largest union of professionals in the AFL-CIO (1.5 million). On February 16, 2013, in an historic joint meeting, the WSNA E&GW Cabinet and WSNA Board of Directors, after thorough review and discussion and following our established affiliation processes

NFN has sent a letter to Chief Operation Officer/Chief Legal Officer Liz Lewis announcing an informational picket at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital from 8am to 4pm on February 19th, 2013. Read the letter here.

Montana nurses have filed three complaints against Bozeman Deaconess Hospital for denying their requests to have a union rep at meetings with supervisors, prohibiting employees from collective action, and refusing to recognize the union as a bargaining agent. An investigation is underway after the union’s complaints were filed with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming the hospital’s handling of conflict is intimidating.

Read the article here.