Stories we’re scanning:

Nursing News

• Bring Your Own Thermometer to Work? New Zealand RNs forced to take drastic measures – including bringing their own pens and thermometers to work – in light of drastic budget cuts that have also resulted in unsafe staffing levels.
• Doing Her Part: California RN sees need, builds program to offer nonprofit health services to homeless pregnant women in Bay Area.

Labor

• Maine RNs Reach Agreement: Represented by NNU, 850 Maine nurses ratify new three-year contract with important improvements in patient safety and enhanced professional and economic standards.
• UAW Leader Sees Opportunity to Bring Jobs Back to U.S.: UAW’s John Drew says light of Master Lock’s decision to bring more factory jobs back to the U.S. instead of exporting them to China, government can do more to reward companies for keeping jobs at home.

Colleen Espinosa is a float pool nurse at North Memorial Hospital, and she’s a perfect example of why we need a Main Street Contract For America and a Robin Hood Tax – two causes championed by National Nurses United and MNA.

Here’s her story, as told by her son Nick:

My mother Colleen Mckee Espinosa is a single parent of three who is facing foreclosure after CitiBank refused to accept payment on her mortage, having moved up the due date for her payment without her knowledge. They then added thousands of dollars in attorney fees because the home went into foreclosure, making it impossible for her to catch up.

We have lived in our Northeast Minneapolis home for 16 years, and although we only had six years left to pay off our home, the bank has been unwilling to modify her mortgage so that we can stay in our community.

Colleen has worked as a registered nurse for over 25 years, serving and caring for others, and now she needs our support.

“I’m not leaving my home until we get a good faith negotiation. I’m fighting to send the message to other people not to give up, because if you’re isolated you can’t fight these people. Said Colleen. “The banks that crashed our economy better watch out because people are catching on to their game and we aren’t going to let them take our homes from us.

How you can help: Sign the petition online to support a fellow MNA RN!

Stories we’re scanning:

Health Care

• Patient-Centered Care a “Must” for ACOs: New white paper argues that Accountable Care Organizations need to be built with “the patient at the heart.”
• Full Recap of Accretive Hearing: MNA RN Jean Ross was among those testifying this week during Sen. Al Franken’s special field hearing on Accretive Health and the controversial debt collection tactics employed inside Fairview hospitals.

Nurses, Patients Voice Concerns Over Avoidable Hospital Staffing Crisis    The whole system seems to be “missing something” when it reaps massive profits but can’t keep hospitals properly staffed. But the crisis can’t be explained simply by an overall “shortage” of nurses. The real cause of the staffing squeeze might be the tight fists of hospital CEOs, who don’t want to invest in maintaining an adequate, qualified workforce.

HEALTH CARE

Tax-Exempt Hospitals Eyed Amid State Budget Gaps  Following through on a promise, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn announced more than two months ago that the state would resume denying tax exemptions to hospitals that operate more like businesses than charities.

Blog:  What’s the Danger of Not Listening to Frontline Staff?    We continue to take for granted our most cherished resources (our frontline staff).  These people are in the know, they are passionate, they care, and they are the ones who are most connected to our patients.

Oregon’s $2B Medicaid Bet    Gov. John Kitzhaber, a Democrat and a former emergency room doctor, has convinced the federal government that he has a way to make Medicaid treatment better, and cheaper, by completely changing the way the sickest people in Oregon get health care.

LABOR

Caterpillar Workers Reject Contract; Strike Goes On   Of roughly 800 workers at the plant, 620 voted, and 81 percent of them rejected the proposed contract. Union official Steve Jones said they did so because proposed pay raises were too small and it included higher health-care costs.

Senator Al Franken today held a U.S. Senate field hearing on the coercive hospital debt collection tactics of Chicago-based Accretive Health, who have operated at North Memorial and Fairview health care systems in Minnesota. Patients testified to being harassed for payment while in very vulnerable situations, in pain and under the influence of strong medications. Debt collectors implied to the patients they wouldn’t get treatment without paying. Attorney General Lori Swanson, who has been investigating Accretive after receiving multiple complaints from Minnesotans, said patients were pressured to pay bills while hemorrhaging, while having chest pains, and while in pain so severe they thought they were dying.

MNA nurse and National Nurses United co-president Jean Ross testified that her daughter was harassed by Accretive while in the hospital with her seriously ill infant son. Ross left her grandson’s room for a moment and returned to find her daughter distraught. Her distress had nothing to do with the status of Ross’ grandson, who was 13 months old at the time and had been rushed to the ER earlier that night with what turned out to be encephalitis – an acute inflammation of the brain.

“My daughter explained to me that while I was gone, a woman had slipped into the room and asked her if she wanted to pay all or a portion of her bill right now,” Ross said.

Ross spoke to the ethical obligation of nurses to care and advocate for their patients. “As a mother and a nurse, you never want to see a patient or family member who is already in pain or distress be harassed like that,” she said. “I understand the financial side of running a hospital, believe me. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to handle things.”

Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman, a University of Minnesota law professor and a consumer protection advocate all testified that Accretive violated state and federal debt collection laws with their deceptive and coercive practices, including failing to inform patients that they were debt collections agents. The trio also testified that Accretive violated HIPAA medical privacy laws by accessing private patient data without a signed contract to do so, and was irresponsible with that data. In one case, a laptop containing unencrypted data from 23,500 patients was stolen from an Accretive employee’s car.

U.S. Sen. Al Franken addresses the media.

MNA appreciates Senator Franken and Attorney General Swanson’s attention to this situation and their dedication to the right of patients to receive medical treatment without harassment. We encourage all elected officials to remove the profit motive from health care by moving Minnesota and the United States toward a single payer universal health care system like Medicare for All. Only when for-profit health care is a thing of the past will all patients have access to the care they need and the dignity they deserve.

Media Coverage:

• Pioneer Press: Franken Questions if Tactics Hurt Patient Care
• Star Tribune: Accretive Exec Apologizes if Tactics Were Offensive
• MPR: Accretive Senate Panel Hearing in 24 Tweets
• Fox 9 News: Franken Holds Hearing on Aggressive Fairview Bill Collections
• Pioneer Press: Franken Says Accretive Failed to Explain Employee’s Access to Patient Data

Note:  Senate Media is live streaming this event.  Here’s the link if you have Windows

MNA we will post our own video later today.  Meanwhile, follow us at on Twitter. 

Watch  as MNA RN Jean Ross gives dramatic testimony to Sen. Al Franken about debt collectors in ER – NurseTV.org   Related:  Sen. Franken questions Accretive Health execs today over allegations of aggressive debt collection practices. strib.mn/KW2dB9

Night Shift May Boost Women’s Breast Cancer Risk    “About 10 to 20 percent of women in modern societies have night shift work,” said lead researcher Johnni Hansen. “It might therefore be one of the largest occupational problems related to cancer.”

HEALTH CARE

In Medicine, Falling for Fake Innovation  …In other words, this is a pseudo-innovation — a technology that increases costs without improving patients’ health.  Related:  Jane Brody:  When Costly Medical Care Just Adds to the Pain.

Health care reform provides for free, recommended preventive services for women (mammograms, well-woman visits, etc). go.usa.gov/piN

LABOR

U.S.  Factories Rebounding On The Backs Of Low-Wage Workers   American   manufacturing may be starting to bounce back, but the workers responsible for   the turnaround aren’t seeing much of a pay off. U.S. manufacturing output.

CEO Pay Up 6 Percent Last Year   Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs.  The head of a typical public company made $9.6 million in 2011, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm.

10k Wealthy Households Paid NO Income Tax Last Year in 2009   How’d they do it? According to the study, nearly one-third of the high-income returns used miscellaneous deductions such as non-reimbursed employee expenses. Other big reasons for deductions included charitable contributions, medical expenses, and losses related to an incorporated small business.

Stories we’re scanning:

Health Care

• MNA RN Jean Ross Called to Testify on Accretive: MNA RN Jean Ross, one of the Presidents of National Nurses United, has been asked by Sen. Al Franken to testify tomorrow about her nightmare experiences with Accretive Health inside Fairview Ridges Hospital. We’ll be Live Tweeting and LiveStreaming the hearing, which starts at 10 a.m. inside the Minnesota State Capitol, so stay tuned! (UPDATE: The Pioneer Press has already posted an online story about Jean’s upcoming testimony.
• Fighting the Real Enemy: Cancer in America – Read the heartfelt commentary from National Nurses United’s Donna Smith.

Labor Updates

• CEO Rounding: Commentary calls on hospital management to take specific steps, become more successful in connecting with staff members.
• MNA Releases new (and Free!) e-book:  MNA recently published a new multimedia e-book called “Share This! Labor Unions and Social Media” in Apple’s iBookstore. You can download it for FREE on your iPad right now! Here’s the scoop: In light of its stunning success using Social Media during the largest nursing strike in U.S. history, the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) has become known as one of the Labor movement’s leading voices on how to use Social Media effectively and strategically. ”Share This! Labor Unions and Social Media” is MNA’s free gift to the Labor community at large. Pulling back the curtain to reveal every best practice and strategic decision that has gone into MNA’s amazing Social Media success, this interactive, video-enhanced e-book allows Labor Unions to leverage Social Media to Engage Members, Impact Negotiations, Drive Mainstream Media Coverage and Shape Public Opinion.
  

Grab your free copy of MNA’s new e-book today!

ST. PAUL (May 29, 2012) – Before Jean Ross could open the door to the Fairview Ridges Hospital room, she heard the sound: Her daughter was weeping and shaking, unable to calm herself. Ross, who had spent more than three decades as a nurse in the Fairview system, much of that time in the ER, feared the worst as she stepped inside.

“I was sure the doctor had stepped into the room while I was out taking a bathroom break and delivered devastating news about my grandson,” said Ross, a longtime Minnesota nurse and one of the presidents of National Nurses United, the nation’s largest union of professional nurses.

Jean Ross, RN

Imagine Ross’ surprise when she learned the reason that her daughter was so distraught had nothing to do with the status of Ross’ grandson, who was 13 months old at the time and had been rushed to the ER earlier that night with what turned out to be encephalitis – an acute inflammation of the brain.

“My daughter explained to me that while I was gone, a woman had slipped into the room and asked her if she wanted to pay all or a portion of her bill right now,” Ross said.

The incident was one of many that have come to light in recent weeks after Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson released a scathing report about debt collectors badgering patients and family members inside Fairview hospitals.

Ross, who spent 35 years as a nurse at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina, has been asked by Sen. Al Franken to testify at tomorrow’s U.S. Senate field hearing inside the Minnesota State Capitol. The hearing, which begins at 10 a.m. in Room 15 of the Capitol, is being conducted to examine if current federal laws effectively protect patients’ access to care and privacy.

“It was a nightmare experience,” Ross said of the 2010 incident. “What’s even worse is that the same thing happened to my daughter again a couple of years later.”

When Ross’ daughter gave birth to her third child at Fairview Ridges’ hospital in February 2012, another debt collector entered her room unannounced and unwelcomed, asking Ross’ daughter to pay all or a portion of her bill.

“My daughter did not need that type of stress right after giving birth,” Ross said. “Nor did she need to be harassed by a debt collector when she was a nervous wreck worrying about her 13-month-old son inside the ER. What happened in both instances was inexcusable.”

The fallout continues from the Attorney General’s probe, which highlighted Fairview CEO Mark Eustis’ close family ties to Accretive Health, the for-profit company Swanson blamed for the collection practices. Eustis, who was instrumental in bringing Accretive Health into Fairview’s hospitals, has a son who works for the firm.

Late last week, Fairview’s board severed its ties with Eustis, voting not to renew his contract.

Ross said she hopes her testimony to Sen. Franken helps ensure the type of behavior exhibited inside Fairview’s hospital rooms never happens again.

“As a mother and a nurse, you never want to see a patient or family member who is already in pain or distress be harassed like that,” she said. “I understand the financial side of running a hospital, believe me. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to handle things. And I don’t think I’m alone in saying the way Fairview handled things was wrong in every sense of the word.”

Formed in 1905, the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) represents more than 20,000 nurses in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. MNA is also a founding member of National Nurses United, which represents more than 170,000 nurses across the United States.

Please contact MNA’s John Nemo at 651-414-2863 or john.nemo@mnnurses.org to arrange pre-hearing media interviews with Jean Ross.

Hospitals are making record profits despite the economic downturn. One alarming tactic that’s becoming more common is hospital debt collectors posing as health care staff to get payment from patients, sometimes before they’ve ever been treated. You may have seen recent news coverage about Attorney General Lori Swanson’s investigation of Accretive Health, the debt collectors that have been used by both Fairview and North Memorial. This practice raises ethical and legal questions about patient care and privacy.

Now U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) will chair a U.S. Senate field hearing at the Minnesota State Capitol to examine if current federal laws effectively protect patients’ access to care and privacy.  MNA member and National Nurses United Co-President Jean Ross will share her own recent experience taking her family to be treated at a Fairview facility.

MNA supports the stand that Sen. Franken and Attorney General Swanson are taking on behalf of patients. If you believe this kind of behavior disrupts patient care, please attend this hearing.

Here is the statement issued by Sen. Franken’s office:

U.S. Senate Health Committee to Hold Field Hearing at Minnesota State Capitol

Chaired by U.S. Senator Al Franken

Wednesday, May 30 at 10 a.m.

Room 15, Minnesota State Capitol, St. Paul 

“Ensuring Patients’ Access to Care and Privacy: Are Federal Laws Protecting Patients?” 

U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) will chair a U.S. Senate field hearing at the Minnesota State Capitol to examine if current federal laws effectively protect patients’ access to care and privacy.

Sen. Franken, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, arranged for the hearing after Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson issued a report about Chicago-based Accretive Health Inc.’s debt collection and patient privacy practices and whether the company violated federal health, debt collection, and privacy laws. Accretive Health Inc. formerly was a contractor for Fairview Health Services in Minnesota.

The hearing is free and open to the public.

Sen. Franken’s office  651-221-1016

Stories we’re scanning:

Health Care

• Eustis out as Fairview CEO: MNA RN Barb Martin talks to the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press about Fairview’s decision to part ways with CEO Mark Eustis in the wake of the hospital system’s ongoing debt collection scandal involving Accretive.

Notes on Nursing

• Need A Nurse? You May Have to Wait (and Wait): NPR story sheds new light on national epidemic of unsafe staffing inside U.S. hospitals.

Labor Updates

• MNA Releases new (and Free!) e-book:  MNA recently published a new multimedia e-book called “Share This! Labor Unions and Social Media” in Apple’s iBookstore. You can download it for FREE on your iPad right now! Here’s the scoop: In light of its stunning success using Social Media during the largest nursing strike in U.S. history, the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) has become known as one of the Labor movement’s leading voices on how to use Social Media effectively and strategically. ”Share This! Labor Unions and Social Media” is MNA’s free gift to the Labor community at large. Pulling back the curtain to reveal every best practice and strategic decision that has gone into MNA’s amazing Social Media success, this interactive, video-enhanced e-book allows Labor Unions to leverage Social Media to Engage Members, Impact Negotiations, Drive Mainstream Media Coverage and Shape Public Opinion.
  

Grab your free copy of MNA’s new e-book today!