Becker's ASC Review

35 HEALTHCARE NEWS 35 California to raise minimum wage to $25 an hour for healthcare workers By Kelly Gooch C alifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill that will gradually raise healthcare workers' hourly minimum wage to $25. The bill, signed Oct. 13, comes after union and hospital representatives reached agreement on how such a minimum wage could be addressed. "Gov. Newsom's signature on landmark legislation to improve wages for California's healthcare workers will create meaningful change for families struggling to keep pace while at the same time protecting access to care in vulnerable communities," Carmela Coyle, president and CEO of the California Hospital Association, said in a statement shared with Becker's. "This bill strikes the right balance between significantly improving wages while protecting jobs and safeguarding care at community hospitals throughout the state." Under the new law, cities and counties are blocked from increasing pay via ballot measures for 10 years. Workers at healthcare facilities with 10,000 or more full- time equivalent employees will earn $23 per hour starting in 2024, with pay increasing to $24 an hour in 2025 and $25 an hour in 2026. That affects workers including launderers and hospital gift shop workers, according to the Los Angeles Times. Workers at hospitals with a high governmental payer mix; independent hospitals with an elevated governmental payer mix; rural independent covered healthcare facilities; or covered healthcare facilities owned, affiliated or operated by a county with a population of less than 250,000 as of Jan. 1, 2023, will earn $18 per hour starting next year, with pay increasing to $25 an hour in 2033. Urgent care clinics, skilled nursing facilities and other smaller facilities will be required to pay workers $21 per hour in 2024, with pay increasing to $25 per hour in 2028, according to the Los Angeles Times. The new law allows some healthcare facilities to apply for a temporary pause or alternative phase-in schedule of the minimum wage requirements if they have documentation proving financial distress. "California is putting a stop to the hemorrhaging of our care workforce by ensuring healthcare workers can do the work they love and pay their bills — a huge win for workers and patients seeking care," Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California, said in a statement. "Californians saw the courage and commitment of healthcare workers during the pandemic, and now that same fearlessness and commitment to patients is responsible for a historic investment in the workers who make our healthcare system strong and accessible to all." n financial losses. We've dealt with post-pandemic and pandemic. And it's extremely important as an organization that we continue to take care of the work that is foundational to stabilize the organization. at that piece is critical to us. But I also know that we have to do that simultaneously with looking for new opportunities and making sure that we're continuing to grow, especially outside the hospital in that ambulatory space. So we'll continue to remain focused in those areas as well. It's like conducting an orchestra. We've got to make sure that people are focused on their roles. Some of those roles are making sure that we're stabilizing our foundation, and we have other individuals that are focused on growth. Warner omas. President and CEO of Sutter Health (Sacramento, Calif.): We've set up five pillars for our strategy. One is to be the best place to work and to practice medicine. At the end of the day, we're in a war for talent in healthcare, and you've got to be the best place for physicians, for clinicians, for leaders, for nurses. And that's so important if you're going to win moving forward. You must work hard on diversity and inclusion, and build those programs. e second pillar is around how we coordinate and serve more patients. at's where access is the key. We're relentlessly focused on how we improve access for our patients, and that's through a large ambulatory expansion. We've been building new ambulatory locations throughout Northern California. But it's also building more digital access capability. It's working hard on service and, and how we continue to make navigation easier for the organization. Also as part of serving more patients and access is training the next generation. We need to expand our hiring of positions. We need to expand our training of physicians. e third pillar is to develop a connected, convenient patient experience. And our operating thesis is that successful systems in the future are going to have a large regional ambulatory platform. You must have a hospital platform as well, but the platform is critical, and you have to integrate it with a large digital platform with online appointment scheduling, analytics, to provide an integrated experience across your entire system. And this whole concept of connection means being connected to your patients all the time, not only when they're in your facilities, but when they're home, when they're traveling. Are you thinking about them? Are you being proactive in how you educate them about testing and annual physicals and annual screening? is idea of having a connected experience, a digital platform connected to a large inventory platform, is critically important. Our fourth pillar is focused around whole-person health and moving the payment system and value-based care. Continuing to transition our thinking from fee-for-service to more global payment orientation. And then finally, we must be a great community asset, improving our patient community and societal health. We're nonprofit. We're here to serve our communities, and we want to do everything we can to be part of the solution to improve health in the communities that we serve. n

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