New York Bill to Mandate Minimum Nurse Staffing

A bill to mandate minimum nurse staffing at New York’s 185 acute care hospitals has begun advancing in the New York State Assembly while gathering two-dozen bipartisan sponsors in the Senate led by the Health Committee chairman.

The bill would require the staffing of one nurse for every two intensive-care patients and have a 1-to-4 nursing ratio in regular medical-surgical units. Advocates predict that this will improve patient care, reduce deaths and re-admissions and keep hospitals financially intact. California has a similar mandate.

New York hospitals oppose it, saying the ratios would cost them and nursing homes about $3 billion annually, infringe on flexibility to shift staff as needed and cut some services and beds as it did in California.

The Assembly health and codes committees advanced the bill.