Patient Safety Act is Approved by Public Health...(so pleased that the Joint Committee on P...),Health

"We commend the Public Health Committee for their favorable vote on this bill and we look forward to a successful vote in the full House," said John McCormack, the co-chair of The Coalition to Protect Massachusetts Patients. "Every day we wait for this bill to be passed, a distressing number of patients in our hospitals are suffering, and many are dying due to a lack of appropriate nursing care."

Key components of the bill include the following:

-- The bill directs the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to

develop and implement staffing standards and enforceable limits on the

number of hospital patients assigned to a registered nurse at any one

time.

-- The staffing standards would be developed within 12 months of the

bill's passage and be based on scientific research on nurse staffing

levels, patient outcomes, expert testimony, and standards of practice

for each specialty area.

-- The bill calls for the safe staffing limits to be implemented in all

teaching hospitals by 2009, with implementation in all community

hospitals by 2011.

-- The bill allows DPH to grant waivers for hospitals in financial

distress.

-- The bill provides flexibility in staffing and accounts for patients who

require more care. Once established, the staffing levels will be

adjusted up or down based on patients needs using a standardized, DPH-

approved system for measuring patient needs.

-- The Act will reduce errors caused by fatigue and overwork by

prohibiting hospitals from forcing nurses into mandatory overtim
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