A publicly funded universal healthcare system, also called a single-payer system, could reduce nurse staffing issues without separate laws requiring nurse-patient ratios, Daniel Bryant, MD, leader of the Portland chapter of Maine AllCare, which is devoted to getting universal healthcare in the state, said in an opinion piece to the Portland Press Herald.
An example of the universal system is the Medicare for All Act of 2023, introduced in Congress in May, "which specifies that individual institutions, like hospitals, would annually negotiate with the Secretary of Health and Human Services a global budget to cover their operating expenses," Dr. Bryant wrote.
Operating expenses under the bill include wages and salary for physicians and nurses, including minimum safe staffing ratios. Modifications would be made for an unanticipated increase in patient care, and capital expenses would be negotiated separately, he wrote.
"Along with hospital administrators and other professionals, nurses would no doubt be involved in these negotiations, which would arrive at pay and staffing ratio figures appropriate for the particular hospital, its patients and its nursing staff," Dr. Bryant wrote. "That sounds like a more comprehensive approach. Indeed, though the Maine State Nurses Association does support the legislation setting nurse-patient ratios, the website of their parent union, National Nurses United, states: 'It's time we have a Medicare for all, single-payer healthcare system.'"