Rochester-based Mayo Clinic almost scored an exemption from Minnesota's Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act — until its opposition to the proposed nurse staffing ratios sparked pushback from other health systems, leading the state to cut those provisions entirely and pass a compromise nurse safety bill. Now, one state senator is speaking out, calling Mayo's tactics "corporate hijacking."
"We are not a state of corporations, we are the state of Minnesota," state Sen. Erin Murphy wrote June 4 in a Star Tribune opinion piece. "Our laws must apply equally."
Ms. Murphy's piece is a response to a May 24 article from the newspaper's business columnist Evan Ramstad. In his column, Mr. Ramstad compares Mayo Clinic's objection to Minnesota's proposed nurse staffing law with a feud unfolding in Florida. The Walt Disney Co.'s objection to Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act — also known as the "Don't Say Gay" Bill — led Gov. Ron DeSantis to repeal an act that established a special governance and taxing district around Walt Disney World.
Disney claimed it would pull large investments from the state. Mayo Clinic responded similarly to the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act, with CEO Gianrico Farrugia, MD, considering pulling billions in investments from Minnesota.
Ms. Murphy wrote that a comparison of the two is "offensive" in her piece titled, "Disney is right; Mayo is wrong." While Disney was specifically targeted for speaking out against a harmful bill, Mayo Clinic wrongfully requested special treatment from one that should have applied universally, Ms. Murphy argued.
"When the proposal moved closer to passage, Mayo issued an ultimatum by demanding an exclusion from the law," Ms. Murphy wrote. "It's not the first powerful corporation to do so, but it is wrong: We are not a state of corporations, we are the state of Minnesota. Our laws must apply equally."
Ms. Murphy defended the union-backed Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act as an evidence-based policy that would benefit both health systems and staff by reducing pressure on nurses, thus alleviating burnout and turnover. This viewpoint differs from most hospitals', which argue mandated staffing laws would only lead to service cuts.
Mayo Clinic's request for an exemption sparked a conversation among other corporate health systems, which stifled the bill's true intent to retain nurses and safe patient care, Ms. Murphy alleges.
"It is true, as some have observed, that a certain hospital in Minnesota is known to care for princes and princesses," Ms. Murphy wrote. "But to act like their nurses don't deserve to have a voice in their staffing, or that Mayo's exertion of corporate power is similar to what's happening to Disney, is believing in a fairy tale."
Read Ms. Murphy's full opinion article here.