Mandated staffing ratios will hurt Michigan residents, not only in hospitals, but across the entire healthcare spectrum.
Michiganders have a lot of questions...
Our partners are urging lawmakers: Let's do better!
Dozens of healthcare and business organizations have come together because these mandates will cause a massive disruption to our healthcare industry. We need to slow down and do better!
We can do better
This policy will damage MI healthcare...
The proposed government-mandated nurse staffing ratio policy in Michigan risks costing hospitals about $1.1 billion, potentially leading to hospital closures, loss of beds at hospitals and severe service reductions.
The plan would also necessitate hiring an additional 13,000 new nurses in the middle of one of the most severe national nursing shortages. That means patients will experience longer wait times and reduced access to healthcare due to decreased hospital bed capacity.
Not to mention what this will mean for healthcare outside of hospitals. If hospitals are mandated to staff at the proposed levels, where will nursing homes, eldercare facilities, schools or other healthcare providers find nurses?
What nursing mandates will mean for...
Nurses
- Severe Hiring Needs: To comply with the proposed ratios, Michigan hospitals would need to hire at least 13,000 nurses. This is despite a national nursing shortage, with Michigan hospitals already struggling to fill the 8,438 open nursing positions.
- Workload and Flexibility Concerns: The fixed staffing ratios reduce staffing flexibility, removing local hospitals from staffing based on the individual needs and experiences of their nursing staff.
Hospitals
- Risk of Bed Reductions: Up to 5,100 hospital beds, or 23% of Michigan’s total statewide bed capacity, risk closure. This is equivalent to closing all hospitals north of Grand Rapids and Flint, or losing the total bed capacity of states like New Hampshire and Maine combined.
- High Financial Cost: The estimated cost for Michigan hospitals to implement these ratios is about $1.1 billion, leading to potential hospital closures and service reductions.
- Operational Struggles: Hospitals would have to reallocate existing RNs, potentially placing emergency rooms on diversion, reducing available healthcare services and requiring patients to travel further for emergency care.
YOU
- Access and Wait Time Issues: Reduced bed capacity and potential hospital closures will lead to longer wait times and limited access to healthcare services, affecting patient care delivery.
- Rising Healthcare Costs: The financial burden on hospitals might result in increased healthcare costs, impacting patients’ affordability and access to healthcare.
- Quality of Care Concerns: Studies in other states with mandated staffing ratios, like California, show no significant improvement in patient outcomes, raising concerns about the effectiveness of such policies.
We can do better
We have a plan to get new nurses.
Our coalition supports the following alternative solutions to address the nurse staffing shortages:
- Join the Nurse Licensure Compact: Bring Michigan into the national Nurse Licensure Compact to reduce barriers for out-of-state nurses to practice in Michigan immediately, joining 41 other jurisdictions across the country.
- Expand Michigan Reconnect Eligibility: Lower the age requirement to 18 and older, encouraging more individuals to pursue nursing careers.
- Funding Innovative Approaches to Workplace Violence Prevention in Healthcare Settings: This complements the signing of Public Acts 271 and 272 that increase penalties for violence committed against healthcare workers and makes the nursing profession more attractive by addressing safety concerns.
Take Action
Tell our legislators let's do better!
Accessing safe, affordable, high-quality healthcare is important to all Michiganders. We cannot take a “let’s see if this works” approach to patient care.
Dozens of healthcare and business organizations have come together to oppose this legislation because it is poorly thought through. Families across the state deserve better.