Across the state, home health & hospice units are understaffed and unable to meet the growing needs of our communities. For nurses and clinicians providing post-acute care to patients in their homes, that means:
Working long hours, without taking meal or rest breaks.
Managers trying to appease corporate executives by assigning unsafe caseloads and refusing to account for caregivers' experience and expertise.
Experiencing worsening exhaustion, moral injury and burnout because they cannot take the time to provide their patients with meaningful quality care.
Studies show that smaller caseloads result in better outcomes of care and higher patient satisfaction ratings–but agencies and hospitals providing home health and hospice services know that more patients means more money in their pockets and for too long
have exploited the compassion of their clinicians and nurses. When corporate executives put their bottom line ahead of patient care, they are neglecting vulnerable community members and forcing nurses and clinicians out of the profession in drastic
numbers.
Giving nurses and clinicians an equal say in setting caseloads and staffing levels will ensure quality patient care, and reduce burnout and moral injury among healthcare providers. We urge the Oregon State Legislature to act!
ONA has prepared a bill for 2025 where:
We create home health staffing committees, and hospice staffing committees. These committees will be made up of an equal number of managers and clinicians and focus on staffing that ensures quality care.
The staffing committees will create staffing plans, which will be adopted by majority approval. Staffing plans determine nurse and clinician caseloads, and will be required to consider the acuity of patients, the complexity of patient need, and
other demands of home health & hospice work, such as travel time, on-call time, and charting.
If a staffing committee cannot adopt a staffing plan, the Oregon Health Authority will undergo a binding arbitration process.
The Oregon Health Authority will enforce the bill by investigating possible violations of the staffing plan, and imposing civil penalties where appropriate. Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries enforce any violations related to missed meal
or rest breaks.
The staffing committees will also develop contingency staffing plans when faced with an ongoing national or state emergency, protecting patient access.
