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Pandemic Fuels Passage Of NY Bills To Prevent Understaffing In Hospitals And Nursing Homes
arrow A medical employee steps outside of an emergency room at Elmhurst Hospital Center, April 4th, 2021 Mary Altaffer/AP/Shutterstock
After years of languishing in the state legislature, measures to create minimum staffing requirements for hospitals and nursing homes passed both houses on Tuesday.
Nurses say short staffing is a long-time issue, and research shows that the shortcoming can worsen patient outcomes and mortality rates. The problem gained new attention and urgency as overburdened clinical staff struggled to keep patients alive during the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislation includes significant changes that appease powerful hospital lobbyists who have historically opposed staffing mandates.
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New York lawmakers passed legislation Tuesday that establishes minimum staffing levels for hospitals and nursing homes, asserting understaffing practices at some facilities contributed to COVID-19 infections and deaths.
The health care staffing bills, which have been debated in various forms over the past decade, were approved by both houses of the Legislature Tuesday afternoon. During a press conference earlier in the day, health care union leaders and lawmakers urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign the bills, if passed.
One bill establishes minimum staffing hours per resident and related provisions for nursing home care statewide. It comes after more than 13,000 New Yorkers died from COVID-19 complications in the long-term care facilities.