Saint Vincent Hospital, part of Tenet Healthcare in Dallas, is pushing back the launch of its new Cerner EHR system until early next year because of an ongoing nurses strike at the Worcester, Mass.-based hospital, according to a July 1 Worcester Business Journal report.
Hundreds of nurses at Tenet's Saint Vincent Hospital have been on strike for about four months, but hospital management and the Massachusetts Nurses Association have been unable to reach an agreement. The strike largely revolves around staffing concerns.
On June 27, the hospital offered the union, which represents about 800 nurses at the facility, a new proposal — the first since May 5 — to end the strike. But the nurses union said the proposal offered "no meaningful steps in response to the nurses staffing concerns and even reduces staffing protections in a number of areas, including Tenet's reneging on a previous offer to eliminate flex positions."
In a June 23 memo circulated to Saint Vincent Hospital staff and shared with Becker's, CEO Carolyn Jackson wrote that the hospital now will delay its Cerner EHR rollout until early 2022.
"Despite having [216] Saint Vincent Hospital employed nurses now caring for patients, we cannot move forward with the go-live when there is no end in sight for the strike,” Ms. Jackson wrote. "Necessary build and training activities would be challenging to conduct under the current circumstances, and we want to ensure that both PBAR and Cerner launch successfully."
Saint Vincent did not disclose how much the EHR delay might cost the hospital, according to the report.