Two hundred and fifty advanced practice providers across Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital are seeking to join the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, the union said in a June 15 news release.
The nurse practitioners and physician assistants work across multiple clinic locations in the Puget Sound region. Fred Hutch APPs filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board and an election is scheduled for July 8-9. UW-employed APPs who work at Fred Hutch locations filed a separate petition with the Washington Public Employment Relations Commission, which reflects the public-private employment structure governing the institutions. Fred Hutch is not a party to the UW petition.
Clinicians say ongoing organizational restructuring has increased patient loads while reducing per-visit time, and that front-line providers have been excluded from expansion decisions. In an oncology setting, they argue, those conditions erode the long-term provider-patient relationships that undergird continuity of care. Clinicians are “optimistic that our employers will bargain in good faith,” Sam Doyle, ARNP, who has practiced at UW for 17 years and is also a city councilman for Mountlake Terrace, Wash., said in the union release.
In a statement shared with Becker’s, Fred Hutch said it “strongly believes we can best serve our teams, and by extension our patients, by working together through the relationship we currently have,” while affirming it respects APPs’ right to decide on representation.
Fred Hutch draws patients from Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho, and is recognized as a globally renowned cancer center. Becker’s reached out to UW Medicine and Seattle Children’s and will update the article if comments are received.
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