The budgeted FY2020 staffing plans for each unit of nearly every hospital in Massachusetts and Hospital Association of Rhode Island (HARI) member hospitals are now posted on the
PatientCareLink (PCL) website. From the PCL home page (
www.patientcarelink.org), click on “2020 Plans” under Massachusetts Hospital Data/ Staffing Plans and Reports to view the latest plans.
Web visitors can select specific hospitals and see the staffing plans for a total of some 712 individual units, including emergency departments, at 80 hospitals/campuses across the state. The budgeted plans also show descriptions of the type of care provided on the various units, team members who support patient care and any changes in the types of patient care units from year to year. This is the 14th year Massachusetts has voluntarily posted hospital staffing information for public access.
Through
PatientCareLink, hospitals are also committed to filing their
actual staffing from the previous year and explaining what actions were taken if there is a significant variation (+/-5%) from the
budgeted plan. The actual staffing and variance from budgeted data for FY2019 are expected to be posted in the spring of 2020.
“For 14 years, these staffing plans have been publicly available to help patients and families better understand how hospitals design staffing assignments that include entire caregiving teams to ensure safe and high quality care,” says
Pat Noga, RN, PhD, FAAN, Vice President for Clinical Affairs at the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association (MHA), which co-sponsors the
PatientCareLink site along with the Organization of Nurse Leaders – MA, RI, NH, CT, VT (ONL) and HARI. “Massachusetts was the first state to voluntarily make such unit-specific staffing information public, and the
PatientCareLink site is a great resource that provides patients, family members, loved ones and caregivers alike an open and transparent view of Massachusetts hospitals’ staffing and quality endeavors and outcomes.”
“HARI and member hospitals are committed to staffing transparency and improving the patient and healthcare workers’ experience,” said
Jean Marie Rocha, MPH, RN, Vice President of Clinical Affairs for HARI, which also posted FY20 staffing plans for its member hospitals. “Participating in
PatientCareLink provides patients, members and the public a sense of just how dynamic patient care is and how hospitals respond to patients’ changing needs.”
Patient outcomes such as fall rates and pressure ulcer rates are also listed on
PatientCareLink under Performance Measures. The comprehensive data and complete openness of the site have made it a highly credible resource for staffing and performance reporting.
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