Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo on June 12 vetoed a bill that would have established minimum staffing ratios for certain hospitals in the state.
Four notes:
1. The bill, introduced Feb. 3, applied to hospitals with more than 70 licensed beds located in counties with a population of at least 100,000 people. It would have required such hospitals to meet enhanced staffing requirements.
2. The bill would have mandated the creation of staffing committees for nursing, technical and service staff. It also would have established maximum nurse-to-patient and certified nursing assistant-to-patient ratios, varying by unit type and shift.
3. In his veto letter, Mr. Lombardo said mandating staffing committees “adds layers of bureaucracy that could hinder rather than help patient care.” He also said implementing fixed ratios without resolving workforce shortages could lead hospitals to reduce service or turn away patients for not meeting quota requirements.
“While I support efforts to promote safe, high-quality patient care, SB 182 imposes a rigid, one-size-fits-all staffing mandate that fails to reflect the complex and ever-changing realities of health care delivery,” Mr. Lombardo wrote. “By locking specific nurse-to-patient ratios into law, this bill removes the flexibility that hospitals and care teams need to respond in real time to fluctuating patient needs, emergencies, and staffing availability.”
4. Supporters of the bill said short staffing is proven to increase infections, complications, falls, readmissions and mortality.
“SB 182 was a common sense bill to make sure that nurses, nursing assistants and other healthcare workers have reasonable patient loads and can provide the highest quality, most compassionate care,” state Sen. Rochelle Nguyen said in a June 16 news release from SEIU Local 1107. “It is deeply disappointing that Governor Lombardo chose to torpedo this critical bill.”