Lakewood Chamber of Commerce
Board of Directors
Policy Position
Oppose SB 5236: Concerning hospital staffing standards
The Board of Directors of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce opposes SB 5236, which creates rigid nurse-to-patient ratios. We are concerned about the negative impacts to patient access that will result from this bill. This bill is similar to E2SHB 1868 from the 2022 legislative session, which passed the House. One crucial difference between last session and SB 5236 is instead of enacting ratios in statute, the bill directs the Department of Labor & Industries to set ratios through rulemaking. The ratios would be developed by Jan. 1, 2027, and hospitals would be required to follow them by July 1, 2027.
The Washington State Hospital Association doesn’t believe that L&I has the expertise, nor have they shown the ability to navigate the complexity of the hospital environment.
The most recent survey conducted last year determined 6,100 more nurses are needed in our state. This bill requires the “hiring” of more nurses, rather than the “creation” of them. There is an assumption that hospitals don’t want to provide a higher level of nurse/patient ratios. This is simply untrue. We have a nursing shortage. All health care facilities are competing for the same small pool of nurses.
With an aging population, it’s uncertain whether we will ever educate and train enough nurses based on the current model. It’s time we look at innovative ways to staff our hospitals. And there are hospitals that are working towards that end given the mandates they must follow.
One option is The Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) that was created largely to make it easier for nurses to continue to practice when moving to another state. Thirty nine states that are part of the NLC allow nurses to practice in other participating NLC states without having to obtain additional licenses or coursework. Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Alaska, Hawaii, Minnesota, and a few others are holdout states that to date have not started the process of joining the NLC.
This bill does several things that will make it impossible to maintain patient access at their current levels of service. Rigid ratios amid staff shortage does nothing except drive hospitals to close service access to patients, contract with expensive travelers to meet the ratios and face significant fines for situations outside their control. Changing nurse staffing committees to be fully controlled by labor unions while only penalizing hospitals when they do not operate under preset guidelines will only harm future patients.
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