NEW YORK NURSE: October 2009

Governor signs “disclosure” bill into law

New York now has a law requiring hospitals to report their staffing levels to the state and to make these reports available to the public.

Gov. David Paterson signed the Nursing Care Quality Protection Act on Sept. 16. It will take effect in March 2010. After years of both official lobbying and grassroots activism, this was a sweet victory for nurses and their patients.

“We are pleased that the governor recognizes that the public has a right to know how hospitals are staffing their units,” said Shaun Flynn, director of the NYSNA Governmental Affairs Department. “In addition, state regulators will have reliable information about how nurse staffing affects the quality of patient care.”

The law affects hospitals, diagnostic and treatment centers, hospices, and other facilities licensed under Article 28 of the state public health law.

Key provisions of the law:

Each facility will report nursing quality indicators, such as:

The number of registered nurses providing direct care and the ratio of patients per registered nurse, expressed in actual numbers, total hours of nursing care per patient, adjusted for case mix and acuity, for each unit and each shift.
The number of LPNs providing direct care, in actual numbers and the hours of care per patient, adjusted for case mix and acuity.
The number of unlicensed personnel utilized to provide direct patient care, according to the same guidelines as for RNs and LPNs.
Adverse incidences such as medication errors, patient injuries, pressure ulcers, and hospital-acquired infections.
The methods used to determine and adjust staffing levels to meet patient care needs.

Facilities will provide this information to the state Department of Health and to any member of the public who requests it.

“This is a huge victory for our members, who lobbied long and hard for this law,” said Tina Gerardi, NYSNA chief executive officer. “Now we need to start the difficult task of monitoring the way this law is implemented and enforced.”