NOTES ON NURSING

Successful Nurse-Intensive Chronic Disease Management Experiment in Jeopardy    But Health Quality Partners, with its emphasis on continuous nurse-to-patient contact, did work. Of the 15 programs, four improved patient outcomes without increasing costs. Only HQP improved patient outcomes while cutting costs.

HEALTH CARE

Austerity is Hurting Our Health    Austerity is having a devastating effect on health in Europe and North America, driving suicide, depression and infectious diseases and reducing access to medicines and care, researchers said on Monday.

Uninsured Population Swells    About 84 million were uninsured or underinsured, 3 million more than when the 2010 health law was signed and 20 million more than in 2003. About 80 million adults who had medical conditions said they chose not to see a doctor or fill a prescription because of the cost.

Bloomberg News OpEd:  What Tax Exempt Hospitals Owe Their Communities   According to a study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, only 5 percent of the money that tax-exempt hospitals spent on behalf of their communities in fiscal year 2009 went to public-health programs.

LABOR UPDATES

Health Care Jobs Saved Minnesota   Bottom line: Health care jobs saved our bacon in the recession. The industry continued to grow jobs during the worst economic conditions in decades.

MNA’s E & GW Commissioners stand behind HealthEast Home Care nurses

The bargaining team for HealthEast’s Home Care nurses got a boost from MNA’s E & GW Commissioners who joined them at the table on Wednesday.  The Commissioners came to show the 68-member bargaining unit and management that MNA’s 20,000 members are standing with them in their fight to achieve a first contract.

After observing negotiations over this one particular morning, it became apparent to commissioners that HealthEast administrators are playing games in the talks and hiding behind their attorney to avoid working out a fair contract.  Jennifer Michelson, chair of the E & GW Commission, said administration is disrespecting HealthEast Home Care nurses by refusing to agree to basic provisions that are part of every union contract.

“They wouldn’t even make eye contact with their own nurses.  They wouldn’t make eye contact with us,” Michelson said, “They have no intention of maintaining what nurses have now as non-contract employees.”

Nurses at HealthEast Home Care are still fighting for basic protections such as a grievance procedure with binding, neutral arbitration as well as “just cause” language that other HealthEast nurses have.