A bill now pending before the Massachusetts legislature would codify many of the elements contained in the voluntary Patients First initiative and, therefore, hospitals are strongly supporting its passage.

The Patient Safety Act is truly a groundbreaking initiative that both addresses the nursing shortage and injects transparency and accountability into the health care system. Specifically, Senator Moore's bill:

• dedicates needed resources for nursing scholarships, loan repayments, mentoring programs and faculty development to increase the number of nurses.
• requires all hospitals to file their staffing plans for each unit with the Department of Public Health, and to publicly post the plans.
• requires hospitals to use and publicly report on “nurse-sensitive” measures to track how patient care is affected by the nursing care hospitals provide.

Click here for a section-by-section analysis of the bill, and here for the official text from the Legislature's webpage

In a poll conducted earlier this year, the pubic preferred Senator Moore's Patient Safety Act over government-mandated ratios by a margin of 56% to 21% to ensure safe nurse staffing in Massachusetts hospitals.

A Tremendous Show of Support for The Patient Safety Act

On July 13, more than 500 nurses, doctors and hospital leaders joined together on Beacon Hill today to advance the cause of health care quality and patient safety. At a press conference and later at a legislative hearing, they declared their support for the Patient Safety Act – the initiative to improve the supply of nurses, measure the quality of nursing care across all Massachusetts hospitals, and provide public reports of each hospital's staffing patterns. In the hearing room, these proponents of a common-sense solution to for safe patient care overwhelmed the numbers produced by a union that backs legislation for restrictive and inflexible nurse-to-patient ratios.

Among those testifying in support of the Patient Safety Act and against mandated ratios, were representatives from the Massachusetts Association of Registered Nurses and the American Nurses Association; Bruce Auerbach, MD, the head of Sturdy Memorial Hospital's ED unit; Susan Abookire, MD, of Mount Auburn Hospital; John Fromson, MD, the chairman of MetroWest Medical Center's Department of Psychiatry, and Alan Woodward, MD, of Emerson Hospital. The Home Health Association, CEOs and other officials from Massachusetts community hospitals, as well as a representative from the Massachusetts Association of Behavioral Health Systems, testified for the Act, as did Allan Blair, president of the Western Mass. Economic Development Corporation. Rehabilitation hospitals offered compelling testimony against ratios, pointing out the special caregiving circumstances they face. Especially strong testimony came from Associated Industries of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Business Roundtable, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation (MTF), and Massachusetts Biotech Council, all of whom supported SB1260 and its job-creation measures, and all of whom spoke against the ratio bill.

Janet Madigan RN (left), the president of MONE, speaks in support of the Patient Safety Act and against mandatory ratios. Listening (from left to right) are an unidentified nurse, Sen. Richard Moore, and Meg Soriano, RN, a staff nurse at Mass. General Hospital.

During the press conference, the MHA and the Massachusetts Organization of Nurse Executives also released a white paper on the nursing “pipeline” to document the nursing shortage and highlight efforts by hospitals, professional associations, and government to augment nursing education programs. By 2010, Massachusetts will have 9,096 fewer nurses than it will need. Advocates say that is why funding for financial aid programs for nurses and a focus on the needs of the state's nursing schools are a cornerstone of the Patient Safety Act sponsored by Senator Richard Moore.

Massachusetts Organization of Nurse Executives President Janet Madigan, RN, said the biggest challenge will be meeting health care needs as the baby boom generation ages. “More and more nurses are reaching retirement age and our nursing schools are not equipped to bring in and educate a new generation of caregivers in the numbers we need to meet rising demand,” she said. “With its focus on incentives and assistance for nursing students and on increasing the capacity for their training and education at our colleges and universities, the Patient Safety Act is the right approach.”

Senator Richard Moore concurred, saying, “Willing more nurses at the bedside by passing a law, won't make it happen. We need to have enough nurses to attract to the job first, and we need to help to keep them there by giving them the support they need in technology and support staff so that working conditions are more manageable for nurses.”

Former MONE President Karen Moore, RN, tells media outlets in front of the State House why the Patient Safety Act is the quality alternative to government-mandated ratios.

In addition to education programs and support, the Patient Safety Act would require all hospitals to report on three common measures of the quality of the nursing care they provide, said Mount Auburn Hospital President and CEO Jeanette Clough, RN, the immediate past chairwoman of the Massachusetts Hospital Association. “We are known the world over for our excellent hospitals, but we are not resting on our laurels. The Patient Safety Act will help us serve our patients and maintain our leadership for quality and safety,” she said.

Massachusetts General Hospital's chief nurse, Jeanette Ives Erickson, RN, touted the bill’s provisions for staffing plans that will show each hospital's unit-by-unit nursing and caregiver coverage. The staffing plans would be reported to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and would be posted for the public on the web and in the hospitals themselves. “We should be held accountable for the job we do for our patients,” she added. “Government should refrain from dictating methods of care, however.”

Meg Soriano, RN, a staff nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital agreed. “No law can anticipate the needs of all patients. That's why the Patient Safety Act is a better approach.” The staffing plans required by the Patient Safety Act would be devised with the input of frontline nurses and submitted to state health officials. “Ratios are the wrong way to go. Maintain our ability to care for patients,” Soriano asked legislators. “Educational opportunities for new nurses are an important part of a common-sense solution. They would help more young people make the choice I made to become a caregiver.” Click here to read MHA's written testimony