Roseland Hospital is among the Chicago area’s few remaining safety net hospitals, but it’s in grave financial difficulty thanks in part to huge nursing costs during the pandemic. The hospital faces a $6 million unpaid bill to agencies that it was forced to use to find temporary nursing staff during the pandemic, according to the hospital’s president, who appeared last week on WTTW. During the pandemic, those agencies doubled their rates, he said. Four other safety net hospitals have already closed since 2018 in the Chicago area, according to WTTW.
One measure that might have alleviated the nursing cost issue – and still might – is a national compact that recognizes licenses for all nurses working in states that belong to the compact.
But Illinois is among just 11 states that never joined the compact. That makes it far more difficult to recruit licensed nurses to come to Illinois.
Thirteen months ago, a bill was proposed for Illinois to join the compact. But it died, thanks to organized union opposition. Among the unions that filed public notices of opposition were the Illinois AFL-CIO, the Illinois Nurses Association, the Chicago Chapter National Black Nurses Association and the Chicago Federation of Labor. It was hardly union haters who supported the bill; most of its sponsors were progressives.
WTTW’s Brandis Friedman didn’t ask Roseland’s president about that.
The nursing shortage and the challenges for safety net hospitals have many causes, but one is the artificial barrier to coming to Illinois thanks to its licensing requirements. Illinois has no excuse for not being part of the compact.
-Mark Glennon
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
A bill endorsed by both the AARP and Health Care Council of IL got squashed. That’s a rarity.
The states that haven’t joined the compact are the usual culprits: CA, OR, NY, MN, etc.
Illinois nurses have been forced into can’t-beat-em-join-em by Illinois union rule. Nurses, unionized or not, are compensated far less than teachers for far more hours worked and extremely higher personal physical/financial risk. Insult to injury, nurses in Illinois work until age 67 in servitude to public benefits entitlement class age 58ers. Why would nurses want to come to Illinois from other States? The marginally higher salary is immediately consumed by higher property taxes (and utilities taxes, gas taxes, sales taxes). Home values decrease annually relative to home values elsewhere. People are mean and selfish in Illinois. Teachers and their political… Read more »
Susan!! You have stated this perfectly! Thank You!