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The Voice of Nursing Leadership in Pennsylvania

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Ponl legislation and advocacy

Take Action! What YOU can do to help!

Contact the Honorable Michele Brooks at one of the addresses below and mention some the examples below:

·  Appreciation for her commitment—which you share—to ensuring that all Pennsylvanians can access high-quality health care.

·  Recognition of her understanding of the complexity of the nursing profession and that one-size-fits-all staffing mandates do not work.

·  A note about how you’re trying to attract/grow additional nurses and why it’s hard, given current workforce challenges.

·  Specific examples of how the current workforce emergency is already impacting care in your community — closing beds, increasing wait times, discontinuing services — and how mandated staffing could make it worse.

·  A request not to move HB 106 out of committee.



The Honorable Michele Brooks

Chairwoman

Senate Health & Human Services Committee

Senate Box 203050

Harrisburg, PA, 17120-3050



The Honorable Michele Brooks

Chairwoman

Senate Health & Human Services Committee

100 Hadley Road, Suite 9

Greenville, PA 16125


Take Action!

As you now know, the House passed the Nurse Ratio Bill, by a vote of 119-84.  

Now the bill will go to the Senate and discussions could potentially begin in September. Some states that had similar deiscussions regarding ratios came away without a Ratio Bill, but rather an agreement that staffing committees would be established in their hospitals.

Read the AONL Position Statement regarding staffing ratios here.

We need some information from YOU! Using this link, please tell us if your hospital has a staffing committee or not - it will take you less than two minutes and will help us know how to best serve you. We welcome any additional detail you can provide us, too!

During the summer I urge all of us to contact our State Senators since they could be more available at their home offices. If you do not know who your legislators are, please use this handy link to find out: Find Your Legislators. Thank you for your advocacy on this very critical issue.

Please make use of the talking points supporting our stance that can be found on the Legislative page of the PONL website.

If you have additional questions, please contact Rosa Hickey by email or phone at 717-487-0911.

Rosa Hickey, MSN, RN, NEA-BC | PONL Legislative Committee Chair

House HEALTH Committee Vote meeting June 6, 2023 HB106 Patient Safety Act of 2023, Sponsored by Mehaffie, Tomlinson, and  Kosierowski  Regular Session 2023-2024 House Bill 0106 P.N. 1462 (state.pa.us)

YouTube video of live-streamed House HEALTH Committee mtg 6/6/2023:  https://pahouse.com/live#Health

Bills in the Pennsylvania Legislature during the 118th Legislative Session
(2023-2024)

1. Nurse Staffing Practices & Ratios

PONL Opposes HB 106 “The Patient Safety Act” (Mehaffie, Tomlinson & Kosierowski) & SB 247 (Senator Collett)

PONL is strongly committed to nurse staffing practices that support the provision of safe patient care. PONL endorses the autonomy of each healthcare organization to establish appropriate strategies to deliver high levels of patient care by providing safe, effective, and collaborative staffing practices. PONL is adamantly opposed to any legislation that would mandate nurse-to-patient ratios for all heath care organizations.

Read PONL's Position Statement on Nurse Staffing Practices & Ratios (updated April 2023).

2. Telemedicine

PONL Supports

    3. Full Practice Authority for Nurse Practitioners

    PONL Supports

    • SB 25 "Modernization of the Professional Nursing Law" (Bartolotta and Boscolo [Senate])

    View more details and provide your support.

    Workplace Violence Bills Introduced to U.S. Congress

    PONL Supports 

    PONL Does Not Support*
    • S.1176 Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act Baldwin [D-WI]   | Referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, April 18, 2023
    • H.R. 2663 Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act Courtney [D-CT-2] | Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means, April 18, 2023

    (*RATIONALE for non-support: The OSHA Mandate duplicates The Joint Commission’s Workplace Violence Prevention standard effective January 2022. These two Workplace Violence bills duplicate that which is already required.  Therefore, PONL Supports the SAVE Acts.)

    PONL Monitoring

    Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC)  Act 68 of 2021 Partially implemented Sept. 5, 2023

    • Partial implementation began Sept. 5, 2023 —registered nurses and licensed practical nurses who reside in NLC states other than Pennsylvania and hold an active multistate license may practice and provide nursing services in Pennsylvania in-person or via telehealth. These nurses, who also hold a Pennsylvania single state license, may stop renewing it.
    • Nurses who reside in Pennsylvania cannot apply for a multistate license until NLC full implementation is completed. The date NLC implementation in Pennsylvania will be completed is unknown. When an implementation date is known, it will be posted or publicized by the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing. (NCSBN https://www.nursecompact.com/files/NLC_Map.pdf)

    MSL Compact Structured Exception Process No Longer Required!

    UPDATED November 2023

    Source: https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/facilities/Pages/Nurse-Licensure-Compact.aspx [health.pa.gov]

    “The facility-specific guidance published by the Department in August 2023 has been rescinded.

    MSL Compact Structured Exception Process No Longer Required

    Effective immediately, pursuant to the determination that RNs and LPNs that hold an active MSL should be treated as if they possess an RN or LPN license issued by the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing, a health care facility seeking to employ or contract with RNs and LPNs holding an active MSL license will not require an exception or further approval by the Department to do so.

    For this reason, facilities no longer need to use the MSL Compact Structured Exception process that was announced in August 2023. Over the next few weeks, facilities that utilized that process will receive a letter from the appropriate Department Division indicating that the MSL Compact Structured Exception approval has been rescinded. Facilities that were not able or chose not to utilize the MSL Compact Exception process may employ or contract with RNs and LPNs holding an active MSL license without further notice to or approval by the Department.”

          PONL Legislative Committee Members

          Rosa Hickey, Chair
          Andrew Thum, Co-Chair

          Committee Members:

          • Carol Amann
          • Angela Brown
          • Heidi Dewitt Zedlar
          • Fiona Felton
          • Tina Roma Fisher
          • Denise Frasca
          • Carol Ann Gioia
          • Kimberly Kennedy



          • Jessica Lazzeri
          • Deborah Lidey
          • Joan Madalone
          • Jessica Nardi
          • Mary O'Connor
          • Glenn Repko
          • Kathy Sankovich
          • Deb Thompson
          • Cathy Weidman
          © Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders

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          Pittsburgh, PA 15228

          admin@ponl.net

          412-343-2437


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