Do Public Reporting Laws Affect Nurse Staffing, Patient Safety?

A new $214,000 grant from RWJF’s Future of Nursing National Research Agenda will fund a study to examine whether public reporting laws are effective in encouraging hospitals to improve nurse staffing levels and improving patient outcomes. The project is coordinated by INQRI and the team is led by Matthew D. McHugh, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research. McHugh is also an RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholar.

The researchers will examine the impact of nurse staffing public reporting laws on staffing levels and patient outcomes in four states: Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont. They will look at the scope of nurse staffing public reporting laws, the process and context that supported their passage and implementation, the effects of the laws on registered nurse staffing levels, and the effects of the laws on patient mortality, readmissions, and failure-to-rescue.

“The studies funded through the Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative are establishing the links between nursing care and patient outcomes, and this new round of research takes that work one step further,” said INQRI Co-director Mary Naylor. “The National Research Agenda supports studies that will provide the evidence base for policies that will advance nursing, improve health care, and increase access to care.”

A news release on the new grant is here.

Higher Nurse Staffing Levels Decrease Odds of Penalties for Excessive Readmissions

A study published in Health Affairs finds that hospitals with higher nurse-to-patient ratios are less likely to be penalized for excessive readmissions under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) of the Affordable Care Act. HRRP penalizes hospitals that have excessive 30-day readmissions for Medicare patients admitted for heart attacks, heart failure or pneumonia, it is anticipated to reduce hospital payments by roughly $280 million in fiscal year 2013.

Matthew McHugh, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar lead the research team. He and his colleagues noted that nurses are primarily responsible for a wide range of activities that can reduce readmissions, including care coordination and oversight, discharge planning, and patient education. When nurses have adequate time to complete those activities, readmissions rates are lower.

Read the news release about this study here.