Mission Health recently announced it is devoting millions toward retaining employees in the wake of a shortage.
Mission Health, part of the HCA Healthcare system, is one of the largest employers in western North Carolina. The organization oversees several hospitals and care providers, including Mission Hospital.
What You Need To Know
- Mission Health recently invested millions to provide pay increases for workers like nurses
- A nurses union says the pay increases come after workers expressed major concerns about staffing at one of the organization's hospitals
- A registered nurse says the pay increase hasn't yet eliminated some of the challenges nurses are dealing with due to the staffing numbers
The company is investing $22 million in pay increases for workers as a hiring and retention incentive.
The pay changes apply to employees playing key roles in supporting patient care, like nurses, patient care technicians, environmental services, lab and laundry workers.
In a press release, Mission Health says the pay increase is part of its continued efforts to invest in its greatest asset: employees.
“Compensation and benefits for hospital roles and positions are at the forefront of operations and ensure a commitment to current employees that they are heard and valued,” said Greg Lowe, president of Mission Health/HCA Health care North Carolina Division.
Staff at Mission Health previously told Spectrum News 1 wages will be increased for all nurses (non-union and union) across all Mission Health hospitals, further stating more than 50% of Mission Hospital registered nurses will see at least a 15% increase in their pay.
The pay increases come after Mission Hospital was sharply criticized by the union National Nurses United.
Nurses with the union said for quite some time the hospital has been short-staffed, making it harder for their members to do their jobs.
Nurses doubled down on these concerns, by rallying outside the hospital in June and August of this year, calling for staffing changes.
Union member and registered nurse Lori Hedrick told Spectrum News 1 the recent pay increases are long overdue for nurses.
"For nearly a year, Mission Hospital nurses have been speaking out and protesting about the staffing crisis at the facility and urging HCA to focus on recruitment and retention," Hedrick said. "Mission RNs have been demanding that HCA invest in nurses. Hundreds of nurses have left due to the unsafe working conditions. The pay increases will greatly help retain nurses, as well as recruit new RNs to work at Mission."
Hedrick, a wound ostomy continence nurse, has been working at Mission Hospital for eight years. But she says staffing and patient care began to change in 2019, after HCA acquired Mission Health.
Hedrick says there's been lots of turnover at Mission Hospital over a year's time.
Lately, she says her team is seeing patients for services they would not normally handle, in part due to a staffing shortage.
In addition, Hedrick says the breaks for many nurses are shorter and the work days longer.
"A good four-five hours a week overtime," Hedrick said.
According to National Nurses United, Mission Hospital has nearly 1,400 registered nurses, instead of the over 1,800 it had around the same time frame last year.
Hedrick says there haven't been enough nurses hired to replace the ones who left, and the workload is burning nurses out.
"It's pretty devastating to those of us trying to provide excellent care," Hedrick said.
Hedrick says this is why she and other nurses have been demonstrating in front of the hospital, demanding more staffing.
The union reached an agreement over the recent pay increases with the hospital in September. But the union has been in an ongoing dispute over working conditions at the facility.
National Nurses United says Mission Hospital is about 400 nurses short below the union's recommended safety ratio of one nurse to five patients on a regular medical floor.
Mission Health disagrees with the union's numbers.
According to a Mission Health spokesperson, the hospital has hired more than 1,000 nurses in 2022 to support the Mission care team. In a follow-up statement, Mission Health acknowledges they are utilizing contract and travel nurses while the search continues for permanent staffing.
However, Mission Health maintains the union's numbers are not accurate because they don't account for the temporary nurses.
Spectrum News 1 followed up with Mission Health to confirm if the 1,000 newly hired nurses were at Mission Hospital or across the Mission Health system.
In a statement, Misson Health said the following: "The 1,000 is across Mission Health with most of them at Mission Hospital."
There is currently no federal or North Carolina state law mandating nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals, leaving it up to individual hospitals to determine staffing needs for their units.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are trying to create a federal standard for a minimum nurse-to-patient ratio in hospital units.
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Janice Schakowsky of Illinois previously introduced a federal bill in Congress that remains in the committee stages. If passed, it would require hospitals to enforce a nurse-to-patient ratio.
The union's federal government relations division says the bill was referred to the Energy & Commerce Committee and to the Ways & Means Committee in the House, and to the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee in the Senate. As of now, they say no action has been taken by the committees on the bill.
Some states already have instituted their own mandates, including California. In 2004, California became the first state to set a minimum registered nurse to patient staffing requirements for every hospital unit, which includes a 1:2 ratio in an intensive care unit.
Hedrick says although Mission Health's pay increase is a step in the right direction toward alleviating staffing challenges, the union hasn't yet seen any major developments with staffing at Mission Hospital, they say.
Hedrick says some of the nurses currently juggle up to eight patients at any time, and it's hindering their ability to treat patients properly.
"It decreases the nurses' ability on the floor to a certain number of minutes per hour per patient," Hedrick said. "When you're looking at seven-eight patients, that's less than seven minutes per patient per hour."
Spectrum News 1 asked Mission Health about Hedrick's workplace concerns.
In response, spokesperson Nancy Lindell says staffing at the hospital is constantly reviewed and adjusted to meet patient needs:
"Mission Hospital has about the same number of nursing positions now as we had last year; however, as with hospitals across the country, we are challenged with filling those positions. Staffing at Mission Hospital is reviewed every four hours, and staffing resources are shifted to respond to changes in patient acuity, sometimes placing charge nurses into care roles to best support our patients and staff. We are making every effort to recruit and strengthen our team, including financing three teaching positions, one each at A-B Tech, Western Carolina University and Blue Ridge Regional College; opening the Galen School of Nursing; starting an in-house, pay-to-learn CNA program and recently giving significant raises to many of our staff in caregiving roles, including nurses."
Mission Health has not confirmed with Spectrum News 1 exactly how many nurses are working at the hospital, or how many have left Mission Hospital in the last two years. However, Mission Health says it’s not immune to the nursing shortage that many other hospitals across the country are facing.
Hedrick says many registered nurses who have come on board are not sticking around due to the staffing challenges.
"They have hired nurses, but they're not staying. It's just this vicious cycle. They don't stay because the staffing is bad, so they leave," Hedrick said.
At times, Hedrick says there are nurses missing breaks and at times taking on additional roles to ensure things get done.
"When you're having to administer medications, provide care, take them to the bathroom or provide any other sort of bed care, that's extremely lacking in the amount of time that's needed," Hedrick said.
Hedrick says the pay increases are a big step in the right direction toward helping with retention and recruitment of registered nurses. But it hasn't yet erased her concerns about staffing and workload at Mission Hospital.
"I've heard so many nurses say 'I did the absolute best I could today, and it was terrible,'" Hedrick said.