The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, an independent state agency, estimates that healthcare costs will increase between $676 million and $949 million annually if this initiative passes.
Nurses have worked hard to advance our profession through education, advocacy, accountability and leadership. This law would set back the entire profession, and health care as a whole.
In a letter to the editor Dr. Brian Burke writes: "However, under the terms of the nurse staffing initiative, if you arrive at an emergency department at the wrong time, you may not be seen until and unless additional staff are brought in to restore the ratio."
In his letter to the editor, John Breasted writes: “BHS should fully disclose the magnitude of the extra costs incurred in its four-day lockout, and the terms of its contract with the company that supplied its strike labor.”
The strike will by necessity be considerably longer than one day. While "BMC will bring in experienced, qualified replacement nurses, the temporary nursing agency requires a minimum five-day contract."
--- Berkshire Health Systems response to strike
One BMC nurse said the situation has deteriorated to the point that many Berkshire County pediatricians are sending patients to Bay State Medical in Springfield out of frustration.
In his letter to the editor, John Breasted writes: “BHS management does a disservice to this public interest, and to the market of potential patients to which they so heavily advertise their services, when they blow rhetorical smoke around the contract issues.”
In her letter to the editor, Andrea Harrington writes: “I implore BMC to reach a fair agreement that provides nurses with tolerable working conditions that will ensure that patients receive the high quality health care that is so essential to all of us throughout the County.”
