Category: Workplace Issues

Lorie Brown, Nurse Attorney, of Brown Law Office, P.C., discusses the Exclusion List from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). This list excludes nurses and other health care providers from treating Medicare or Medicaid patients. Lorie discusses how you get on the list, either mandatory or permissive, and possible jobs you can do if you are on the Exclusion […]

With 23 states along with D.C., Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands having full practice authority (independent practice without physician oversight), it would seem that nurse practitioners (NPs) in those places should be reimbursed at the same rates provided to physicians (MDs). However, these NPs are paid 85% of what physicians are paid for the same services. Although there are […]

It’s interesting that Hawaii nurses get the best annual pay of all nurses in the country: $104,060.00 per year.  Story.  At the same time, California nurses get the highest pay per hour at $54.44 per hour.  Nurses in those 2 states are mostly unionized. If you want to go to the Aloha state for your nursing practice, you will have […]

The number of nurses in acute care is dropping as they are leaving the profession in droves. It is scary to think that we’ve had a nurse shortage even before the CV-19 pandemic erupted but we now are seeing nurses walking away from their careers in even larger numbers.  Today’s nurses have never faced such devastation, disease, and death in […]

  A group of healthcare workers and their union filed an action against Riverside Community Hospital, an HCA owned facility in southern California.  [Story]  The Plaintiffs are 4 healthcare professionals that state claims they were not provided adequate protective equipment and that they were pressured to sacrifice safety precautions to meet quotas. Additionally, the hospital failed to alert staff to […]

2020 was supposed to be the year of the nurse.  What we thought would be a year of celebration was actually a year of strife where nurses were thrust into the frontline without adequate PPE, staff or support.  Never has a year taken such a toll on our most trusted health care providers. Time Magazine named Joe Biden and Kamala […]

In a recent COVID-19 nurse survey performed by HOLLIBLU and Feedtrail of 1200 nurses affiliated with 400 hospitals from all 50 states stated that 61% said they are likely to leave their current position or specialty.  67% said they were planning to leave the facility or industry altogether and 74% currently are experiencing high levels of anxiety and emotional stress. […]

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state law, health care workers who test positive for COVID-19 yet remain asymptomatic are allowed to work on a COVID-19 unit as the governor just announced in North Dakota. This is both somewhat shocking and scary because it is hard enough for nurses to work with COVID-19 positive patients but […]

I consider politics to be something personal but there were 2 interesting things that happened recently that I would like to share. While volunteering at a poll for her first time, a nurse saw a woman pass out while waiting to vote at the Lucas Oil Stadium poll in Indianapolis.  Colby Snyder stepped up to use an automatic external defibrillator […]

2020 has been a difficult year for nurses.  I was thrilled to read a great article in my hometown magazine, the San Diego Magazine titled “5 Ways Local Hospitals Support Their Frontline Workers: The Programs That Help Care for the Caregivers.” I am so happy that hospitals are now realizing that they need to help the world’s hardest workers.  They […]