Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/984530
61 HEALTHCARE NEWS 18k Kaiser nurses vote for option to strike at California facilities By Kelly Gooch T ens of thousands unionized registered nurses at facilities owned by Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente voted for the option to call a strike if an agreement is not reached on issues such as staffing and patient care, according to a California Nurses Association news release. e CNA — which represents 18,000 RNs who work at more than 20 Kaiser Permanente medical centers and dozens of medical clin- ics and office buildings in California — said nurses are calling on the healthcare giant to improve patient care standards. "With this vote nurses are making it absolute- ly clear: We are ready to strike to make sure our patients get safe care," said Zenei Cortez, a South San Francisco Kaiser Permanente RN and co-president of CNA. Union officials said nurses specifically are calling on Kaiser Permanente to support their proposals regarding staffing and patient care standards. ese include bringing in a charge nurse on each unit, as well as resource nurses to assist other nurses so they are able to take breaks. e union said nurses also propose "in- terventions with pharmacy to expedite patients receiving correct medications," and "increased staffing when needed due to emergent condi- tions and heightened patient volume." Additionally, the CNA said nurses are op- posed to Kaiser Permanente's proposal to move from the existing GRASP patient clas- sification system to Epic Acuity, which nurses contend is less transparent. Nurses are also opposed to what they said are Kaiser Perma- nente's plans to cut pay for new hires by 10 percent in the Sacramento region, and 20 per- cent in Fresno and the Central Valley. Regarding the union's claims about staffing, Debora Catsavas, senior vice president of hu- man resources for Kaiser Permanente North- ern California, said in a statement: "Our nurse staffing meets, and oen exceeds, state-man- dated staffing as necessary for patients, based on the complexity of their medical conditions. We employ more than 18,000 nurses, and have hired more than 2,000 nurses in multiple key specialty areas over the last three years, and continue to hire more as needed." As far as the move to Epic Acuity, Ms. Catsavas said the move addresses various issues nurses have raised about the existing GRASP patient classification system. "GRASP is a system from the 1980s based on studies of nursing work flows conducted nearly 50 years ago. Epic Acuity is an up-to- date, comprehensive system that directly re- flects the care provided and allows nurses to spend more time at the bedside," her state- ment reads. "Epic Acuity uses clinical infor- mation directly inputted by the nurses into our electronic medical record." She said Kaiser Permanente also offered nurse representatives paid time to talk about and re- view Epic Acuity's implementation. Furthermore, Ms. Catsavas said there are no proposed wage cuts or wage reductions for current nurses. However, she said Kaiser Per- manente last October proposed a new wage scale for new nurses hired in the Sacramento, Central Valley and Fresno areas on or aer Jan. 1, 2019, "to more closely align with the lower cost of living in these markets." She noted Kaiser Permanente nurses in Sacra- mento, the Central Valley and Fresno earn 24 percent, 37 percent and 45 percent more than non-Kaiser Permanente nurses, respectively. While the Kaiser Permanente nurses have authorized a potential strike, no strike date is set. For a strike to occur, nurses would have to provide at least 10 days notice. Ms. Catsavas said Kaiser Permanente antici- pated a strike authorization might occur but believes an agreement is within reach. n Penn State Hershey drops 2,100 neurology patients By Alyssa Rege P enn State Health Milton S. Hershey (Pa.) Medical Center sent letters to roughly 2,100 patients last week stating the hospital could no longer provide them with adequate neurology care, ABC-27 News reports. A spokesperson for Penn State Health told Becker's Hospital Review April 23 the multiple sclerosis service at the hospital sent letters to 2,100 patients advis- ing them to seek alternate care options until the hospital recruits more special- ists to its team. The spokesperson said among other challenges, two of its MS specialty physicians retired and two others left the institution. "As we seek to hire additional, highly specialized physicians and advanced care practitioners to treat patients with MS, we are encountering many of the same challenges being seen by health systems nationwide — namely, a shortage of sub-specialists trained and ready to treat this complex illness," the spokesper- son told Becker's. The spokesperson told Becker's Penn State Health is "committed to serving our patients' needs for MS care ... and are actively working through a plan to make this happen." The hospital will also directly contact affected patients "in the near future" to aid them in the transition. n "With this vote nurses are making it absolutely clear: We are ready to strike to make sure our patients get safe care." - Zenei Cortez, Kaiser Permanente nurse