DeAnn McEwen, co-president of the California Nurses Association, said the district has laid off workers and pushed back the opening of clinics in Ramona and Valley Center. “To support that kind of salary, I think it’s unconscionable,” McEwen said. “They are holding back on what the voters are paying for.” More »
Nurses and union officials claim that St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center has violated a days-old agreement to stop activities cited in a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, so the complaints have been reinstated. —The Pueblo Chieftain, 04/09/12 More »
Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer did not have much in common during the three days of debate on the 2010 healthcare law before the Supreme Court March 26-28. But they did share one essential characteristic. All four will never have to worry about guaranteed access to healthcare. —Commentary by Rose Ann DeMoro, published by Common Dreams, 03/30/12 More »
Not surprisingly, today's debut Supreme Court argument over the so-called "individual mandate" requiring everyone to buy health insurance revolved around epistemological niceties such as the meaning of a "tax," and the question of whether the issue is ripe for review. —Huffington Post, 03/27/12 More »
The tale of an 11-year-old's $5,000 stomachache reveals the Twilight Zone of hospital billing. The charges seem arbitrary if not indefensible. —Los Angeles Times, 03/24/12 More »
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON A member of Senate President Therese Murray’s leadership team predicted Thursday that the Senate would support blocking a Patrick administration move to shutter Taunton State Hospital, a mental health facility that serves the state’s southeast region. More »
MUSKEGON – Registered nurses from Mercy Health Partners’ Hackley campus delivered a 6 foot high petition today to the office of Roger W. Spoelman, President and CEO of the health system. The petition boasted hundreds of signatures from Hackley nurses requesting safe care for their patients. More »
Mandatory overtime was a common complaint among Texas nurses a few years ago. They said that being required to tack on extra hours or shifts left many of them exhausted, contributed to errors and accidents and made family responsibilities difficult. More »
LANSING – More than 500 nurses and nursing students from across Michigan rallied at the Capitol today, advocating for policies and priorities to heal their patients and communities. This year’s event focused on the introduction of the Safe Patient Care Act, long-overdue legislation to require Michigan hospitals to provide minimal nursing staff in order to protect patients’ care and safety. More »
Nurses in Minnesota are fighting against an irresponsible ‘Right to Work’ amendment that would make it more difficult for RNs to bargain for safe staffing levels, for construction workers to ensure safe worksites and for emergency responders, like police and firefighters, to negotiate for things that keep us all safe—like faster response times and life-saving emergency equipment. More »
The feverish patient had spent hours in a crowded emergency room. When she opened her eyes in her Manhattan hospital room last winter, she recalled later, she wondered if she could be hallucinating: “This is like the Four Seasons — where am I?” —New York Times, 03/06/12 More »
Nurses, teachers, construction workers and others gathered at the Michigan state Capitol Tuesday to launch their drive to enshrine collective bargaining as a right guaranteed to employees under the Michigan Constitution. —mLIVE, 03/06/12 More »
Your credit can be wrecked if the doctor or hospital kicks your unpaid bill to a collection agency. 22 million Americans were contacted by collection agencies for unpaid medical bills in 2005. That increased to 30 million Americans in 2010. People with wrecked credit scores include those who were just trying to resolve a dispute with their insurance company. It includes people owing less than $250. And even after the bill is paid, the record of the collection action can stay on a credit report for up to seven years. That can drag down a credit score and drive up the cost of financing a home. —SFGate, 03/05/12 More »
It is something we take for granted in the United States. A woman enters the hospital to give birth and she emerges a couple of days later with a beautiful bundle of joy. That is how it usually goes. But this story is about the rare exception -- women who die within 42 days of childbirth. In the health care community it's called simply "maternal mortality." And in the U.S., many experts believe it is on the rise. —ABC News, 03/04/12 More »
Americans spend more than people in other countries on just about every medical procedure and doctor visit, according to a new report from the International Federation of Health Plans ww.ifhp.com. —National Journal, 03/04/12 More »
I'm blinking in astonishment at the vote breakdown on the motion to table the Blunt-Rubio amendment allowing any "sponsor, issuer, or other entity" involved in providing health insurance--not just the Catholic Church--to eliminate coverage for contraceptives if doing so conflicts with that sponsor's, issuer's, or other entitity's "religious beliefs or moral convictions." —The New Republic, 03/01/12 More »
National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union and professional association of nurses in America, announced this week that they will hold a march and rally at the G-8 summit in Chicago on May 18. —New York Amsterdam News, 03/01/12 More »
VALENCIA (CBS) — Nurses at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital will hold a candlelight vigil Wednesday night to protest policies they say are undermining patient care. —CBS Los Angeles, 02/29/12 More »
Armed with new – and disturbing – evidence gathered from the front lines of hospitals across the state, Minnesota nurses introduced legislation today aimed at addressing patient safety through adequate staffing levels. —MNAnurses.org, 02/28/12 More »
More Americans are turning to the emergency room for routine dental problems - a choice that often costs 10 times more than preventive care and offers far fewer treatment options than a dentist's office, according to an analysis of government data and dental research. —Associated Press / Yahoo News, 02/28/12 More »
