A staffing law passed in 2023 in Oregon has resulted in hundreds of complaints and warnings against at least two hospitals, according to the Oregon Health Authority, which provided data to Becker's.
Gov. Tina Kotek signed a staffing law for hospitals in August. House Bill 2697 establishes enforceable nurse-to-patient ratios in state statute for various hospital settings and requires hospitals to establish technical staff and service staff staffing committees, which must meet specified criteria. This is in addition to staffing committees for registered nurses. Beginning June 1, hospitals were required to have approved a staffing plan that meets staffing minimums, which vary by unit.
Under the new law, the OHA received 282 complaints between Sept. 1 and May 31 (an average of 31 complaints per month), the agency said. Between June 1 and 4, the agency received 146 complaints.
The OHA has 31 open investigations that include 110 separate complaints involving 23 hospitals. It has completed 12 investigations that included 42 separate complaints involving six hospitals. Thirteen of the 42 investigated complaints were substantiated.
Under the new law, which also includes staffing requirements for certified nursing assistants, hospitals receive a warning if they fail to comply. The OHA said potential consequences for noncompliance that occurs on or after June 1, 2025, include warnings and civil monetary penalties. The OHA added that the law includes situations of excused noncompliance when there are no consequences even after that date.
As of June 7, there have been warnings issued to two hospitals: Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center in Clackamas and Bay Area Hospital in Coos Bay.
Kaiser shared the following statement with Becker's: "The shifts and staffing plans involved in this review were in the fall of 2023. Like every healthcare organization, we have faced challenges at times in the wake of the pandemic, given the nationwide shortage of healthcare workers and competition for talent. We have been working to hire as aggressively as possible, and are using every available strategy to recruit skilled and compassionate staff.
"This month, a new state law (HB2697) will take effect with new staffing plan requirements. We've been preparing to meet the new law's mandates, including the requirement to update hospital staffing plans by June 1. As always, patient safety is our first priority."
Bay Area Hospital shared the following statement with Becker's: "As required by previous and current law, we had built our report out of staffing concerns into our monthly staffing committee meetings. The new staffing law requires that staffing deviations be reported out to the staffing committee members within 10 days. The recent warning we received from Oregon Health Authority was related to that timeline. We have put in place a simple fix that routes to the staffing committee Microsoft Teams channel that allows for real-time awareness, tracking and support."
Information on the requirements of the law and the OHA's enforcement activities are available here.