Frontline workers at HCA-owned hospitals in California, Nevada, Florida, Texas, and Kansas are calling for an end to HCA’s chronic understaffing that is jeopardizing patient care and worsening worker burnout and turnover through their contract negotiations. The current contracts are set to expire in the coming months, The Guardian reports.
According to a groundbreaking report from SEIU, staffing levels at HCA-owned hospitals have been consistently around 30% below national averages since well before the pandemic.
The report also uncovers “strong evidence of staffing-related quality breakdowns in HCA hospitals,” including higher readmission and death rates from pneumonia and heart failure. (Related: NBC News exposé on HCA short-staffing crisis)
Bargaining session kicked off in California, where workers are calling for better staffing and other improvements needed for safe patient care, and a minimum wage of $25 per hour, reports Becker’s Hospital Review.
In recent op-eds, HCA Nevada workers Jody Domineck and Erika Watanabe describe how frontline workers at HCA hospitals are struggling to provide care due to short-staffing and poor working conditions while the corporation continues to boost billions in profits and urge HCA to put an end to the staffing crisis.