There is no debate that the nation’s healthcare system has been suffering a critical staffing, care and retention crisis that has put hospital patients, staff and our communities at risk.
Caregivers, industry experts and administrators, patients and their families, and even politicians from both sides of the aisle agree that short staffing is a major problem in delivering safe, quality care and positive medical outcomes that we all deserve.
My union of 450,000+ healthcare workers – 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East — serve on the front lines, providing care in hospitals and other facilities across the nation, and experience this crisis every day.
These nurses, technicians, therapists and other essential staff in so many departments that impact care and safety are committed to their patients and their jobs. But they are burning out and leaving their jobs amid short-staffing, insufficient pay and other workplace stressors, leaving an even more dire situation for those who remain. It is a very dangerous spiral.
Sadly, much of this crisis is caused by greed and misplaced priorities by large for-profit companies and hospitals systems. In many cities and communities, residents have little or no other choice to seek treatment at a facility owned and/or operated by one of these corporate entities.
The largest hospital corporation in the country, HCA, has been the subject of extensive research by 1199SEIU because of conditions reported by our union caregivers and members.
An online report from 1199SEIU, for example, documents that “HCA routinely engages in practices that maximize profits at the expense of patient care, working conditions, and responsible corporate behavior.”
Researchers with 1199SEIU highlight that HCA staffs its hospitals at very low levels, typically about 30% below the national average, according to analyses of Medicare cost report data.
Under these conditions, caregivers become over-stretched and over-stressed. They burn out.
Numerous studies and news reports show that alarming percentages of caregivers are considering leaving their jobs, if they already haven’t done so. One industry survey in 2023 indicated that about one in every three nurses are likely to leave the profession for another career.
It doesn’t have to be this way. While yes, many hospitals find themselves needing to cut costs or staff to remain solvent, many healthcare giants such as HCA and others have been amassing billions in profits.
For 2022 and 2023 for example, HCA has reported to their shareholders combined profits in excess of $10 billion, and revenues of approximately $125 billion. Roughly 40 percent of these revenues are derived from taxpayer-funded Medicare and Medicaid programs. This is a staggering use of public funding to facilitate the transfer of wealth to private shareholders.
Investors and management are richly rewarded through massive stock repurchases and executive compensation in the tens of millions of dollars, while patients and understaffed, underpaid caregivers suffer. Some direct care personnel are paid less than $15 per hour.
Unfortunately, there is a racial and gender justice dynamic at play here, as well. Inequity and exploitation of their labor is a sadly well-known experience for women and people of color who largely make up this healthcare workforce.
So to all the giant healthcare corporations that enjoy the windfalls and dominate the nation’s healthcare system, our union members and caregivers across the country are calling for:
— Raise staffing to safe levels in all care and service jobs.
— Pay living wages for all workers.
— Provide safe workplaces. Policies must prioritize protecting health workers from workplace violence and ensure that they have sufficient personal protective equipment.
— Freedom to express safety concerns. All healthcare workers need to be able to advocate for staffing levels and other conditions that are safe for patients and workers without employer retaliation or intimidation.
— The right to form a union which is essential for workers to have a voice and proper protections in their jobs.
–Create a working environment that attracts qualified candidates, and just as importantly, retains the most trained, talented, experienced caregivers.
Proper investment in these elements would dramatically reduce burnout and turnover of staff, and in turn improve health outcomes for patients and the overall care levels in communities. In short, if the biggest and most prosperous healthcare corporations put patients before their lavish profits, the nation’s hospital critical staffing and care crisis can be largely mitigated.
By Roxey Nelson, Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
Based in Florida, Roxey Nelson is Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the nations largest union of healthcare workers.