Report ties higher nurse staffing to lower Medicare penalties
Nurses United, a labor union devoted to nurses, got some well-timed ammunition in their fight to impose strict staffing minimums on the District’s hospitals last week.vvThe journal Health Affairs published research Thursday showing that hospitals with larger nurse staffs were 25 percent less likely to be penalized by Medicare for patients returning to the hospital for the same condition, a feature of the health reform law that took effect in October 2012.
Since the union-backed nurse-to-patient ratio bill was introduced, the arguments have essentially pitted patient safety — more nurses — against the labor cost of doing so, which hospitals say is prohibitive. However, the Health Affairs report could allow proponents to claim their law would save money.
“For nurses at the bedside, we’re about saving lives and we’re about alleviating human suffering, both for patients and their families,” union spokesman Ken Zinn said. “But in doing so, at the end of the day, hospitals will be able to operate more efficiently and save money.”