Massachusetts Bills to Address Nursing Shortage

In an effort to respond to the shortage of nurses and other direct care health workers, the Massachusetts Senate's Health Chair filed a package of bills on December 5 to attract and retain more nurses to care for Massachusetts residents. In addition, Senator Richard T. Moore (D-Uxbridge) filed legislation to improve patient safety throughout the state's health-care system.

"The two issues are linked," says Moore, "since inadequate staffing or excessive reliance on overtime creates a stressful situation that can lead to unintended and preventable mistakes." He explained that complications from understaffing are only part of the reasons for medical error and that understaffing can compromise the quality of care.

"We are not attracting or retaining enough nurses," Moore stated. "When the shortage of nurses is in the emergency room or when there are not enough nurses to properly staff hospital beds, patients can be diverted to hospitals further away," he noted.

To address the nursing shortage, Senator Moore proposed several legislative initiatives—explaining that some of the ideas mirror similar steps taken in recent years to expand the number of qualified new teachers. Moore's legislation, which is named to honor Clara Barton (the founder of the American Red Cross), would:

  • provide a $25,000 hiring bonus for new nurses in the top 15% of their class. The bonus would be awarded over a four-year period at increasing amounts.
  • provide a $50,000 stipend for experienced nurses—termed "Nurse Experts"—over 10 years to mentor new nurses entering the profession. Modeled on the "Master Teacher" program for public education, many health-care leaders hailed this idea because many new nurses leave after only one year in the field because of lack of awareness of the pressures of the nursing profession and lack of support.
  • provide scholarships and student loan forgiveness for nursing to help reduce the financial burden facing nursing graduates that forces them to take more high paying jobs in other fields to erase their education debt.

The financial incentives will be called the "Clara Barton Nursing Excellence Program" because of Barton's historic role in advancing the cause of nursing during America's Civil War and her early career in education.

Another important proposal aimed at attracting and retaining entry-level health-care workers is to subsidize the health insurance premiums for those at the lower salary levels in health care. The bill would assume the employee share of health insurance for any direct care health worker employed by a non-profit entity. "I think it borders on being immoral to expect dedicated, skilled workers who can't afford health insurance for themselves or their families laboring at the bedside of patients who are among the insured," Moore stated.

Senator Moore noted that even when the state has increased compensation for direct care staff by budget action, the pay raise is usually negated by annual increases in health insurance premiums. Employers who contribute to health insurance will be expected to continue that benefit, but employees will be given assistance to maintain their health benefits. Moore also introduced a series of bills focused on patient safety.