Hospital Association strongly opposes bill to let committees set nurse staffing levels

The Minnesota Hospital Association warns a proposal at the legislature to have committees of nurses, other front-line staff and management set safe staffing levels in Minnesota hospitals “would have a drastic, negative impact on patient care.”  The industry group says it would strip away flexibility of care-team leaders to make real-time decisions, leaving that authority with bureaucratic committees.  Democratic Senator Erin Murphy from Saint Paul disagrees, pointing to a hearing when nurses brought stacks of “concern for safe staffing” forms to the Capitol:

…”expressing in a quantitative way the concerns and the worries and the fear and the outcomes of short-staffing in our hospitals.”

Murphy says she’s “quite certain” the bill will get a hearing in the Democrat-controlled Minnesota Senate.