MN HF588

Chief nursing executives at Minnesota reporting hospitals must develop core staffing plans for each patient care unit specifying full-time equivalent staff for each 24-hour period.

Hospitals shall consult with medical staff, managerial and nonmanagerial care staff, and other personnel before submitting core staffing plans to the Minnesota Hospital Association by January 1, 2014.

Minnesota Hospital Association must post core staffing plans on its Quality Report Web site by April 1, 2014, and update quarterly with actual direct patient care hours per patient and per unit starting July 1, 2014.

Department of Health shall convene a work group to study the correlation between nurse staffing levels and patient outcomes, with findings due to legislative committees by January 15, 2015.

$187,000 is appropriated for fiscal year 2014 and $65,000 for fiscal year 2015 from the general fund to the commissioner of health to complete the staffing study.