More than a hundred frontline healthcare workers rally at HCA headquarters during company’s annual shareholder meeting
Workers call on HCA to address chronic short-staffing that is driving worker burnout, patient care failures at its 180+ hospitals
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Today, more than a hundred nurses and other hospital workers from HCA Healthcare hospitals in California, Florida, Texas, and Kansas rallied at the company’s headquarters, calling on HCA to improve staffing levels and address concerns around quality care and worker retention.
“The shareholder's resolution, the months of pickets across California, and our national action are all about holding HCA Healthcare accountable to patients and caregivers,” says Shari Moseley, an admitting representative, and member of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West. “HCA has created a crisis in care that's putting my patients and coworkers at risk just to increase profits and we can’t allow it to continue."
Earlier this year, a groundbreaking report, Care Crisis: How Low Staffing Contributes to Patient Care Failures at HCA Hospitals, presented a sweeping analysis of federal data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that exposes the systemic, chronic short-staffing at HCA hospitals and the harmful effects on workers and patients. The report found “strong evidence of staffing-related quality breakdowns in HCA hospitals,” including missed nursing assessments, delays in patient treatment and patient falls.
According to the report, HCA staffs its hospitals about 30% below the national average, which saves HCA billions of dollars each year. In 2022, HCA earned $5.6 billion in profits.
The rally comes as HCA workers from across the country continue to call for an end to chronic short-staffing at their hospitals. Thousands of workers are currently at the bargaining table, demanding that HCA invests its profits into safer staffing, better wages, and other protections to improve working conditions and patient care delivery. Workers are hoping that today’s rally will escalate their demand for change at the more than 180 hospitals that HCA owns and operates across the country.
“HCA makes billions each year, short-staffing its hospitals and leaving us struggling to provide quality care and support our families,” said Ivan Moreno, a phlebotomist from Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso, who joined fellow union members in Nashville. “We are sounding the alarm in our hospitals and communities, and at the bargaining table – but HCA isn’t listening. That’s why we are here today at headquarters to make our voices heard.”
The demand for accountability by SEIU members comes as federal scrutiny of HCA grows, including a call for an HHS investigation into HCA’s alleged widespread Medicare fraud by Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) and a recent letter from Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL 12th District) to HCA executives demanding answers about staffing and patient safety.
ABOUT SEIU HEALTHCARE
More than one million healthcare workers across hospitals, home care, and in nursing homes are united in SEIU, the nation’s largest union of healthcare workers. SEIU is an organization of nearly 2 million members united by a belief in the dignity and worth of workers and the services they provide. SEIU is dedicated to improving the lives of workers, families, and communities to create a more just and humane society.
For more information, visit: https://www.seiu.org