[pickledpepperRN]

Mass. hospital earnings rise 10%
Nurses union urges increasing hiring


Massachusetts hospitals collectively earned more than $1 billion in profits during the 2006 fiscal year, a 10 percent increase from 2005 and almost double the hospitals' 2004 profits, according to an analysis of publicly released financial data by the state's largest nurses union...

...The state's 69 acute-care hospitals are almost exclusively nonprofit, charitable institutions. Yet the hospitals say they must earn an annual profit so they can invest in equipment, technology, and buildings.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association , which is frequently at odds with the Massachusetts Hospital Association , the industry's trade and lobbying group, said yesterday that hospitals should use growing profits to hire more staff. The union has been fighting a legislative battle for years to win state-mandated staff-to-patient ratios.
"Massachusetts hospitals definitely put the 'profit' in 'nonprofit,' " said Donna Kelly-Williams , vice president of the union. "This year's profits could pay for the staffing needed to protect patients many times over, yet the safety of patients is being sacrificed to high industry profits and seven-figure CEO salaries."...

http://www.boston.com/business/globe...nings_rise_10/
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[oramar]

The things that Mass. Nurse Ass. is saying about hospitals is pretty much true everywhere. Profits will be used to buy equipment and sweeten CEOs salary and pension deals. Staff won't be increased except at the point of a gun and by that I mean mandated staff ratios.

[tvccrn]

Part of the problem with mandated staff ratios, is that there aren't the nurses who want to come back to the bedside because of the treatment they receive by the higher-ups.

The ratios would go a long way toward bettering the job, but when you work your patootie off and get nothing for recognition then why come back? There needs to be a major overhaul in the system and I, for one, don't know how to get it started.

tvccrn

[DusktilDawn]

Originally Posted by oramar

The things that Mass. Nurse Ass. is saying about hospitals is pretty much true everywhere. Profits will be used to buy equipment and sweeten CEOs salary and pension deals. Staff won't be increased except at the point of a gun and by that I mean mandated staff ratios.

I'm willing to bet Mahogany Row doesn't do without annual raise increase of at least 10-12%.