GNYHA Senior Vice President Lorraine Ryan will testify at a New York State Department of Health (DOH) hearing on nursing home and hospital staffing on September 19 in Albany. It starts at 9:30 a.m. A second hearing will be held in New York City on October 22, also at 9:30 a.m.
The current State budget directs DOH to study how staffing enhancements for health care professionals could improve patient care and the potential fiscal impacts of these changes. The report is due on December 31. The upcoming hearings will inform DOH’s report, which in turn will influence the debate on minimum nurse-to-patient ratios during the legislative session that begins in January 2020. GNYHA strongly opposes fixed nurse staffing ratios.
DOH has asked stakeholders to address plans for staffing increases, the workforce and fiscal implications of minimum staffing levels, workforce development strategies, effects of ratio laws in California and Massachusetts, academic literature on ratios, and other proposals that address safety and quality.
Both sessions will be webcast here. Invited stakeholders will testify in the morning and the public in the afternoon, with a 10-minute time limit per speaker.