The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on June 18 ruled a proposed ballot initiative to mandate nurse staffing ratios in hospitals statewide meets constitutional requirements to go before voters, according to the State House News Service.
The decision came after a challenge from the hospital-backed Coalition to Protect Patient Safety, which opposes the initiative. The group argued that Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey should not have certified the proposal because the two components of the proposal — mandated nurse staffing ratios and layoff protections for employees — are not related closely enough to meet legal standards to appear together on one ballot question.
But on June 18, the state's highest court ruled the components "form a unified statement of public policy ... and therefore are related."
The Committee to Ensure Safe Patient Care, of which the Massachusetts Nurses Association is a member, contends the proposal would improve patient safety and care quality in hospitals by limiting the number of patients assigned to a nurse at a given time and allowing hospitals greater flexibility to adjust staffing according to specific patient needs.
The Coalition to Protect Patient Safety, assembled by the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, argues the proposal would negatively impact nurse care delivery and cost the state's healthcare system more than $1 billion the first year.
The court's recent decision does not mean the proposal will be included on the November ballot. For that to happen, the Committee to Ensure Safe Patient Care must submit a final round to certified signatures to the secretary of the commonwealth by July 3.
In addition to the ruling on the two components of the ballot measure, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court also rejected a ballot proposal to require annual disclosure of financial assets by publicly funded hospitals, according to the Boston Globe.
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