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Saturday, May 23, 2009 | 3:22 p.m.
Sun Coverage
CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons has vetoed a bill that would have required larger hospitals in Clark and Washoe counties to submit annual reports to show their nursing staffs are adequate to meet the needs of patients.
Gibbons said Assembly Bill 121 “could dramatically increase the costs of health care without a corresponding increase in levels and quality of service.”
The governor said this should be left to medical professionals and the management of the hospitals.
The bill would have applied to hospitals with more than 70 beds. The hospitals would have had to establish a staffing committee to develop a plan setting the number, skill mix and classification of licensed nurses in each unit. And it would include a description of the patients being treated.
The reports would have been presented to the Legislature.
The bill had passed the Assembly 41-1 and cleared the Senate 14-5.
Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas, who sponsored the bill, could not be reached for comment.
Gibbons also vetoed Assembly Bill 410, which would permit collective bargaining agreements to supersede various laws relating to industry insurance. He said the bill “would lead to a plethora of unintended consequence…” He said it could result in employees losing worker’s compensation benefits and might stop injured workers from choosing their own doctor.
The Assembly approved AB410 30-11 and the Senate passed it 21-0.
Gibbons also signed more than 60 bills Friday, including ones on child prostitution and bullying in high schools.
The governor approved Assembly Bill 380, which freezes and forfeits the assets of a person involved in the pandering or prostitution of a child.
And a judge may impose a fine of up to $500,000 on a convicted person if the child is less than 14 years old. The maximum fine would be $100,000 if the child is between 14 and 18 years old.
Senate Bill 163 was approved to prohibit bullying or cyber bullying in public schools. Bullying is described as causing physical harm or emotional distress. The penalty is a misdemeanor or a gross misdemeanor, depending on the circumstances.
There is now a prohibition against discriminating in public places based on sexual orientation. The governor signed Senate Bill 207, which defines sexual orientation as heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexual.
And the state library in Carson City will not be open five days a week, eight hours a day. Because of budget cuts, the Legislature passed Assembly Bill 528 to eliminate that requirement. The library, under its new budget, will be open four days a week.
I agree with the Governor that effective state business is not mandating reports from private for-profit hospital corporations to be read by legislators. The legislature is not in the business of healthcare expertise, and should not attempt to micro-manage provate companies in how they operate for to exact both profits and succesful, caring patient care.
Legislators and committees do not diagnose, treat and promote wellness in the doctor-patient, nurse-patient relationships. Such decision-making is best left to doctors, who's greatest concern should be successful patient outcomes.
However, the legislature and Governor can take steps to improve healthcare in urban Southern Nevada by enacting a Doctor's Corporate Practice Act (didn't see that bill in the legislature), and reaching out with their leadership skills to branded, healthcare providers abroad to come to Nevada, bringing with them their higher standards, more and better doctors, and nurse to patient ratios with them.
Will the short term costs for healthcare go up? Yes. But, with better patient care and outcomes, the long term costs on social services and the like, something Nevada shuns anyway ("move away, to a state that can afford you"), the long term costs should improve.
There is currently a level of "transience" to healthcare options and outcomes in Nevada. If you really need help, and you are not a well to do resident, or qualify for out of state coverage as a gaming executive family member above the glass ceiling in that industry, you become a transient-patient-Nevada citizen.
You are invited to leave Nevada, over time, to pursue the best outcomes abroad. That reality subtracts from the citizen's vestment in their chosen state of residence.
Less Government ='s More Liberty
Gibbons gets it right for a change.
California instituted a staffing requirement on hospitals. The maximum patient load is 4 patients. Instead of an R.N. supervising LVN and other professionals this caused the layoff of anyone not an RN involved in normal patient care.
It also drove costs up across the state and caused an critical shortage of RN's in California and across the country. This is the goal here. To have the state mandate who can work and how much. The nurses in Las Vegas just dumped the SEIU for the Calif. Nurses Association which caused this in Calif.
Look out Nevada, this is expensive if it ever gets a foothold.