March 2003 Inside… New lead sponsors of single-payer health care ..............2 Executive Director’s column: Beware of repeating history ........3 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE MASSACHUSETTS NURSES ASSOCIATION www.massnurses.org VOL. 74 NO. 2 Union leaders gather to learn, strategize, plan for future Pembroke Hospital vigil...............3 MNA on Beacon Hill: More than 100 local bargaining unit lead- presentation by Paul McCarthy, acclaimed Safe staffing & quality care..........4 ers representing the majority of facilities union consultant and organizer and former represented by the MNA across the common- director of the MNA labor program. Capitol Hill Watch ........................4 wealth came together for an historic “Chairs McCarthy’s program focused on the need Assembly” meeting in Marlborough — an for nursing bargaining units to develop a opportunity for nurses to learn, network, cohesive organizing strategy built around Health care committee share strategies and plan for the future. four key components: 1) the need to develop leadership profiles .......................5 “Because we know that the managers of an effective two-way communications system the health care industry come together to with rank and file membership; 2) the need Newly elected members of develop strategies that impact the working to develop a strategy of what you want to House of Representatives........6-7 conditions and practice conditions of staff achieve through the collective bargaining nurses and patients in this state, we have process and to keep members active in that Legislative directory ....................8 called this meeting to provide us, those of us process; 3) the need to identify issues of com- on the front lines of health care activism, the monality and importance to the bargaining MNA consent-to-serve form ........9 opportunity to do some strategizing of our unit 4) and the need to build bridges with the own,” said Karen Higgins, RN, president community to help achieve objectives and to Learning, networking, of the MNA. “Our local bargaining units address key issues. sharing strategies......................10 cannot afford to work in isolation from one He emphasized that the role of a union another. We need to share ideas, we need to Nora Watts, left, and Connie Hunter, leader was to mobilize and to “empower Toxic cleaning chemicals: communicate and plan together so that we Newton Wellesley Hospital the membership to take ownership of the an in-depth discussion ..............12 can combat the forces that are constantly union.” working to undermine the work we do and wicz was equally impressed with the event. “Members need to understand that they are Island hospital gets rid the care we deliver.” “From the North shore to the South shore to the union and that they should be going to the of antiseptic smell......................12 While the labor program of the MNA holds the western part of the state, in new bargain- union to interpret their contract, not to man- an annual business meeting at the MNA con- ing units and older bargaining units, in large agement,” McCarthy said. “Members need Fact Sheet/Cleaning chemical vention each year, this meeting was called units and small units the concerns were the to know that they have the power and they for the specific purpose of bringing leaders same,” she said. “This was a great way for us have the ability to use that power to address use in hospitals ........................13 together to explore additional avenues of to come together, meet other chairs, and to problems at the facility. They need to know communication and networking. identify needs and to come with new ideas. that as union members they have an obliga- MNA member benefits ..............15 “I thought it was a great to share informa- It definitely refreshed me as to why I became tion to participate in the process and to own tion with all the other bargaining units and a chair and to affirm why I continue to be a the solutions to the problems they face.” MNA nominations & election to meet each of the chairs. I received a lot of chair of my local unit.” Following McCarthy’s presentation, dif- policies & procedures................16 valuable information and I hope it continues,” The program began on the evening of ferent representatives from bargaining units said Cece Buckley, co-chair of the bargaining Jan. 29, when the participants gathered for spotlighted specific issues and campaigns to Traveling with MNA....................17 unit at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center. a cocktail reception. The next day, a full-day Whidden Hospital chair Joanne Bartose- program was held, beginning with a two-hour See Chairs Assembly, Page 11 Continuing Education ...........18-19 MNA blasts Vigil supports Pembroke Hospital nurses governor’s health Smallpox vaccine update The MNA’s caution regarding care cuts smallpox vaccination for health- care workers has been endorsed After reviewing health care cuts announced by nursing groups in Rhode Island, by Gov. Mitt Romney in February, the MNA Maine, California and Texas and by issued a press release blasting the cuts, calling them shortsighted, misguided and devastat- more than 350 hospitals nationwide. ing to children, seniors and other vulnerable Complete details, Page 20 populations. According to the MNA statement, which was widely covered by local media, “Not only are these cuts harmful in their impact on the citizens of the commonwealth, they For the latest are economically wasteful, ultimately result- developments ing in patients receiving more costly care impacting nurses, in already overcrowded emergency rooms. visit the While the governor has called for an equal sharing of the burden of cuts to the budget, MNA web site, his approach to the health care sector shows a www.massnurses.org lack of understanding of the unequal burden borne by health care and human service pro- viders for many years.” The MNA is actively working with the Father Ed Boyle, also known as the “Labor Priest,” leads the Pembroke nurses in a See Romney, Page 11 pro-union song during their Candlelight Vigil. Complete details, Page 2. Page 2 Massachusetts Nurse March 2003 March 2003 Massachusetts Nurse Page 3 Nurses’ Guide to Single Payer Reform MASS-CARE/MNA takes issue with state report on universal health care By Peggy O’Malley legislation called for the creation of a guide At the same time, LECG assumed there will not usually available to policymakers in Mas- Last December, LECG, a consultant firm hired for legislators to move from the present chaos be no savings from a system that provides sachusetts. While other states routinely collect by the state issued a long-awaited report on uni- to a unified, universal system. timely, coordinated care in appropriate set- data on the condition of their health systems, versal health care, which was supposed to provide LECG failed to fulfill the purpose for tings instead of the costly care we all hear several years ago Massachusetts stopped col- an unbiased analysis and road map for the state on which it was commissioned by not provid- about when sick, uninsured folks end up in lecting this information, essential to informed addressing this issue. Below is an Op Ed that was ing legislators the long-awaited “road map” ER’s with health problems that could have decision-making, drafted by MNA board member and President of to achieving universal coverage and the fund- been treated more cost-effectively before they The information collected by LECG dem- MASS-CARE Peggy O’Malley, which provides a ing system that would fairly pay for it. became serious. Furthermore, in its compari- onstrates that “business as usual” is simply powerful and pointed critique of this document, Instead, LECG has been allowed to squan- son of single payer to the two models not unsustainable. With the highest costs in the while underscoring the benefits of a single payer der precious time and money analyzing and providing universal coverage, LECG omit- nation, the Massachusetts health care system model of health care delivery. presenting to the Legislature three models ted the costs of those remaining uninsured threatens to bankrupt the State budget, as well Last month, a report on universal health of health care delivery, two of which do not as though people without insurance have no as health facilities, employers and individuals care was released by LECG, a Chicago consul- meet the standards of universal coverage health care costs. while leaving over 400,000 uninsured, mostly tant commissioned by the commonwealth. and consolidated financing. While acknowl- Such omissions in LECG’s analysis have workers and their children. MASS-CARE, the 80-organization coalition edging that only the single payer proposal inflated their bottom-line cost estimate for a We as a state must act. of organizations who support single payer meets both standards, LECG neglected to so-called “single payer” system by as much Now is the time to choose the path that will health reform in Massachusetts, believes the objectively analyze the costs and benefits of as $3 billion. If so, moving to a true single lead to reduced costs and universal coverage report is a politically biased product. A full all three models. payer system would more than pay for com- through enactment of a single payer system and fair analysis was sabotaged by powerful In the analysis of its “single payer” model, prehensive coverage and benefits, including in Massachusetts. An objective assessment special interests. LECG underestimated the savings that would prescriptions and long-term care. That would of policy options would have arrived at that In the summer of 2001, the Legislature be achieved by creating a real single payer be consistent with previous reports of two conclusion. appropriated $250,000 to develop a transition system in Massachusetts. The basic premise consultants commissioned by the Massachu- The Legislature appropriated $250,000 for plan for “consolidated health care financing of a single payer system is the elimination setts Medical Society.