A compromised version of a bill that would require hospitals in Oregon to adhere to minimum staffing guidelines for nurses and certified nursing assistants now "has strong odds of passing," Oregon Public Broadcasting reported March 29.
If Oregon HB 2697 passes, it would overhaul the state's nurse staffing law and make Oregon the first state to limit the number of patients that can be assigned to one nurse as well as to certified nursing assistants.
For weeks, heated negotiations kept three nursing unions — Oregon Nurses Association, Service Employees International Union Local 49 and the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals — and the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems at odds.
However, hospital group leaders compromised on what had become a contentious point: setting minimum staffing ratios in the emergency and psychiatric care departments.
The latest version of the bill allows hospitals to assign up to an average of four patients to one emergency room nurse per shift but not more than five patients per nurse per shift. Further, an emergency room nurse working with trauma patients can be assigned only one patient at a time.
Further, a maximum of five patients can be assigned per shift to a nurse working in a psychiatric unit; no minimum ratio is included in the compromise bill.
The complete set of bill amendments has not been released to the public.
In return for making the concessions, the Oregon Nurses Association agreed to throw its "political weight behind several hospital group-backed bills, including one that would exempt hospitals and health systems from state regulations meant to limit the growth of healthcare costs to about 3 percent a year," according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
If the bill passes, there is a schedule to phase in the new changes; rulemaking would begin Sept. 1 and ratios would be scheduled to go into full effect June 1, 2024.