The American Hospital Association filed an amicus brief with the National Labor Relations Board urging the board to preserve the 1989 Health Care Rule, which establishes eight mandatory types of bargaining units at acute-care hospitals.
According to the July 29 brief, the AHA is weighing in on a case in which the Minnesota Nurses Association petitioned to represent about 400 advanced practice providers across nine of Duluth, Minn.-based Essentia Health’s acute-care hospitals and roughly 51 non-acute clinics.
At issue is whether the Health Care Rule applies when a petition spans both acute care and non-acute facilities. Under the rule, acute care hospitals are limited to eight specific bargaining unit types, such as all registered nurses or all physicians, so unions cannot carve out narrower groups like an APP-only unit. A regional director found the rule did not apply because Essentia operates as an integrated system with both acute and non-acute facilities, and approved the APP-only unit under a different legal standard.
The AHA, which represents nearly 5,000 hospitals and health systems, argued the board cannot set that precedent through a single case. “If the Board displaces the Health Care Rule through adjudication based on a single employer’s record, every integrated health system in the country will face profound legal uncertainty,” the AHA said in the brief.
The NLRB requested outside briefs on the question in a July 15 order, the first time in more than four years the board has sought public input on a potentially precedent-setting matter, Bloomberg Law reported July 15. The board granted review 2-1, with member David Prouty dissenting. Mr. Prouty argued there was no need to use the case to reexamine the rule’s scope, noting employees had voted overwhelmingly for union representation.
An Essentia spokesperson said in a statement shared with Becker’s that the system appreciates the NLRB’s decision to review the proposed bargaining unit and will continue to follow the process laid out by the board. “We remain committed to reaching a resolution that best protects patient care and supports our colleagues,” the spokesperson said.
Becker’s also reached out to the NLRB and the Minnesota Nurses Association for comment and will update this story if more information becomes available.
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