Talking Points: Hospital care controversy forces end-of-session negotiations
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The stand-off between the Mayo Clinic and the Minnesota Nurses Union continues.
Exhausted by the pandemic, nurses are leaving the profession and just last year Minnesota lost 2,400 nurses. Remaining nurses have to pick up the slack. The result: the union says current staffing levels are unsafe for patients and will continue to force more nurses to leave the profession.
The union has been pushing the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act, designed to keep nurses from leaving the profession by creating committees where they can weigh in on staffing levels.
Right now it has passed both the Minnesota Senate and House, but is stuck in a conference committee.
The Rochester-based healthcare giant has requested an exemption forcing extensive negotiations. Complicating those talks, sources tell WCCO, Mayo wants an exemption not just for Rochester but its nine other Minnesota hospitals that dominate southern Minnesota care. .
Mayo says the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act will severely limit Mayo Clinic's ability to deliver world-class care. The Mayo Clinic has also threatened to pull its investments in Minnesota if changes are not made.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the discussed investments represent four times the size of the investment in U.S. Bank Stadium and would provide "excellent" jobs for Minnesotans.
Nurses say the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act will help ensure safe staffing levels, hold hospital managers accountable, and keep caregivers from leaving the profession in droves.
On Wednesday, Mary Turner, president of the nurses' union, again told WCCO's Esme Murphy the staffing mandates are desperately needed because current conditions in local hospitals are not safe.
WCCO did ask the Mayo Clinic for an on-camera interview but they declined.
Also in the mix, the 142-member Minnesota Hospital Association, which says this bill would force hospitals to turn away 70,000 patients a year. The association also says giving an exemption to just the Mayo Clinic would not be fair.
Dr. Rahul Koranne, the president of the association, provided the hospital's perspective regarding staffing ratios and the impact they believe it would have on patient care and access.
Finally, Murphy spoke with Abou Amara, a Democrat analyst, and Michelle Benson, a Republican analyst and former state senator, about the end-of-session negotiations and the possibility of a compromise.
Talking Points airs every Wednesday and Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., live on CBS News Minnesota.
UPDATE: Late Thursday afternoon, an amendment was added to the act exempting all 16 Mayo hospitals from the bill.
