California Gov. Gavin Newsom is working to impose minimum staffing requirements for psychiatric hospitals, the San Francisco Chronicle reported April 29.
Here are four things to know:
1. The administration is deploying the state’s emergency regulations regime to establish nurse-to-patient ratios. This would close regulatory loopholes that exempted psychiatric facilities from staffing requirements. The California Department of Public Health will issue its first letter to all facilities to begin discussions on new regulations. State officials are also reminding hospitals of reporting requirements and increased staff training.
2. Twenty-one for-profit psychiatric hospitals treat a large share of adults and the majority of patients. However, such hospitals had fewer frontline and direct-care workers compared to nonprofit facilities.
3. The California Nurses Association has proposed a minimum ratio of at least one registered nurse for every six patients in adult acute care units and one nurse for every four patients in adolescent acute care units.
4. State unions have supported the initiative to impose minimum staff requirements, but the California Hospital Association did not respond to the Chronicle’s request for comment.