13
Number of licensed RNs increased by 4 0%
in California since ratio law passed in 1999
Q. Have ratios caused an increase in hospital closures?
A. No.
In 2005, when the hospital industry sought to overturn the ratio law, they failed to produce in court any evidence
linking ratios to hospital closures. Claims by the hospital industry that California's patient safety law is to blame
for hospital and ER closures ignores the fact that 50 hospitals were closed in California between 1990 and 2000
for market-based reasons, long predating the implementation of the ratio law. Virtually all of the few hospitals
closed since January 2004 had reported years of financial losses.
Nationally, 996 hospitals closed from 1987 to 2007, none as a result of California's safe staffing law.
