National Nurses United

MINNESOTA O n sept. 26, Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) members gathered in downtown Min- neapolis outside of the Piper Sandler Heartland Summit conference to call attention to the consequences of execu- tives' financial ties in our Minnesota hospitals. The Heartland Summit is a con- ference touting the bringing together of the "most influential CEOs, visionaries and poli- cymakers in health care." The panelists at the conference included names like Andrew Witty, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group; President and CEO of Fairview Health Services James Hereford; multiple executives of investment bank Piper Sandler; George Halvorson, the former CEO of Kaiser Per- manente and HealthPartners; among others. Clearly missing from the lineup were health care workers and patients— those who work and live through the challenges of our health care system day in and day out. Outside of the Heartland Summit, nurses gathered to share MNA's latest report "Code Blue: How Allina Health's Financial Ties Compromised Its Mission, Patient Care, and Business" as well as to call on the executives inside to include worker voices in decision- making that affects both workers and patients. "I'd like to share a few highlights from this report and how Allina's actions have affected patient care and health care work- ers," said Rachael Ballard, a registered nurse at Allina's Abbott Northwestern hospital in Minneapolis. "In the past year, Allina, assisted by Huron Consulting group, has implemented aggressive staffing 'bench- marking' across its facilities, with a stated ambition of staffing their units at the 40th percentile based on national estimates. As nurses, we see this as Allina's race to the bot- tom when it comes to patient care." MNA member Tracie Ducksworth, a regis- tered nurse at Fairview Riverside hospital in Minneapolis, also spoke outside the event where the president and CEO of Fairview was speaking: "In the last few years, Fairview announced their partnership with for-profit Acadia Healthcare to build a new state-of- the-art inpatient mental health hospital. This is the same Acadia Healthcare that, earlier [in September], the New York Times found to be holding patients against their will in order to maximize insurance payouts…Hospital executives, like James Hereford, are continu- ing to make poor decision after poor decision, which directly affects patient care." For both patients and health care work- ers, the report highlights that those with decision-making power are seemingly out of touch with Allina's frontline workers and the organization's own messaging to the com- munity, as the ever-growing corporate influence in the Allina system correlates with short staffing through aggressive "benchmarking" practices, questionable changes to the patient care model, the increased use of contracted employees, and more outsourcing of care. For Allina, its increasing reliance on the financial sector parallels the ballooning of Allina's debt to $1.7 billion, and its credit rating dropping from AAA to AA-. With Allina's board led by Debbra Schoneman, a Piper Sandler executive whose investment bank earned $5.2 million in fees along with other bond underwriters, one might ask, "Who is profiting from the increased debt load that has sunk Allina's rating?" To access MNA's Code Blue report, visit mnnurses.org/CodeBlueReport. —Lauren Bloomquist Nurses release "Code Blue" report MNA calls attention to consequences of health care execs' financial ties to local hospitals Retiring soon? Join the CNA/NNOC retiree division! CNA/NNOC members in good standing who are age 62 or are retiring due to a disability are eligible to join. Dues are only $60 per year, and you will be a part of an active, dynamic group of retired RNs who work to continue our vision of social justice and health care for all. More information and forms to join are on the CNA/NNOC website here: https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/ CNA-NNOC-retiree-division O C T O B E R | N O V E M B E R | D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 4 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 5

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