June MHHRA Newsletter
June 2006
Dear Colleagues,
Our final newsletter of the 05/06 Program year contains quite a bit of local and national legislative information. First, see the article later in the newsletter titled "L&L Committee Goes to Washington, D.C." to stay informed on the national agenda led by our ASHHRA colleagues.
Locally, the Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA) has been playing a lead role in the communication and education on the nurse staffing debate. Many of MHHRA members work for organizations who are also MHA members. But many do not. Given that we all need want to be active in the campaign to the State Senate, I want to make sure all MHHRA members take the "Call to Action" spearheaded by MHA and have your voices heard. I have enclosed the most recent information provided by MHA which includes an outline of MNA activities, a sample letter to your State Senator and other facts about potential legislation.
Link to Sample Letter
Link to Sample Op-Ed
Link to NSR Drop Study Paper
Link to Bad Rx Advertisement
During the last year we have reached a number of milestones. We have stronger Business Partner relationships than ever before and thank those who continue to sponsor our work. The Pulse, a web-based health careers tool is live and being piloted in Boston and Worcester. With our MHA partners and generous cash and in-kind contributions, we can continue to reach out to career decision makers with greater each and flexibility. Many MHHRA members have been heavily involved with lobbying their State Representatives and Senators with regards to the nursing legislation. Last but not least, we collaborated with MHA again to hold another successful Labor Forum in May.
The MHHRA Board is working to refine a strategic focus for the next few years. Our challenge is to continue to remain financially viable, offer educational and networking forums our members' value and support human resources professionals in all areas of the health care industry, not just hospitals. Earlier in June, the Board came together to begin this planning process and will complete that work over the next on to two months. We will collectively keep you informed going forward.
In the meantime, I'd want to thank the Board for their continued dedication and commitment and wish all of you a wonderful summer.
Diane Bono
Chapter President
2005-2006
HOT JOBS Survey 2nd Quarter Results
MHHRA Hot Jobs survey results are now available for the 2nd quarter. Please click here to view.
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In addition to the BostonWorks section in The Boston Sunday Globe and the online recruitment site BostonWorks.com, the division offers industry-specific magazines such as "On Call" for nurses and allied health professionals and JobSource, a weekly career publication with distribution of over 100,000. BostonWorks also produces a number of career fairs held in Greater Boston throughout the year. Please visit http://www.bostonworks.com
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Industry News
L&L Committee Goes to Washington, D.C.
The ASHHRA Legislative and Labor Committee made its annual trip to Washington, D.C. on May 9 and 10. The committee received updates from the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) liaisons on proposed federal legislation that would impact healthcare human resources. In preparation for their visits to federal legislators, committee members reviewed the following four issues and prepared position papers on each:
- The Secret Ballot Act (HR 874)
- DOL regulations regarding the Family/Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
- Nursing Education
- Allied Health Reinvestment Act
This year's visit focused on the Secret Ballot Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. Norwood (R-GA). The congressman's legislative aides briefed the ASHHRA L&L Committee on details of the Secret Ballot Protection Act and opposing legislation introduced by Rep. Miller (D-CA) and Sen. Kennedy (D-MA). In addition, committee members visited the offices of selected representatives who are considered potential supporters, but who have not yet committed their support.
The committee also attended a briefing by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), at which they discussed issues pertinent to ASHHRA members and presented their position papers.
The following L&L Committee members participated in the Hill visit and related activities: Jeff Payne (committee chair), Mike Paruta, Pamela Drake, Doug Jontz, Nancy Etzelmiller, Dolly Ritchie, David Wolf, and Suzanne Graham (ASHHRA Staff Liaison). They were joined by Becky Frederick, executive director of ASHHRA, and Carla Luggiero, senior associate director of AHA federal relations.
For 2006 L&L Committee position papers, go to: http://www.ashhra.org/ashhra/advocacy/advocacyindex.html.
ASHHRA's 42nd Annual Conference
Transformation in Healthcare: Leading the Way through HR Leadership
October 15-17, 2006
Gaylord Opryland
Resort & Convention Center
Nashville, TN
Exhibit Information: contact Corcoran Expositions 312-541-0567
Rates Information: contact ASHHRA ashhra@aha.org
CALL TO ACTION
The Senate Staffing Debate: Latest Update, Actions Taken
TO: Chief Executive Officers, Member Hospitals and Health Systems
FROM: Bob Gibbons, Sr. V.P., Government Advocacy
RE: 33 Days Left in Session
There are 33 days until the close of the legislative session on July 31. The Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) is inundating the State House each day with groups of nurses pressing the case for passage of H.4988. We must match the effort if we are to succeed. This Call to Action will detail what we've been doing and what you can do over the next four weeks.
A. LEGISLATIVE DROPS:
Attached to this e-mail are two documents that we delivered to each Senator this week. The "studies" piece is in response to an MNA drop that included 34 studies and reports that allegedly supports ratios (the pile of paper was about a foot tall.) The "California" drop details how ratios have adversely affected the California hospital/health care system. We'll continue to make additional drops until the end of the session.
☑Please stress the points from these documents in your meetings with Senators.
B. STATE HOUSE MEETINGS:
MNA continues to be at the State House every day. Even if you have met with your senators, there is a need to continually reach out with calls, invitations to the hospital, State House visits with nurses, trustees, physicians, local business people, etc. We can't abandon the State House to the MNA for 5 weeks and not expect our position to deteriorate. Ads, "drops," and letters are important, but nothing is more effective than direct contact with senators.
☑Continuing personal contact with senators is the best form of advocacy.
C. RADIO ADS/ADVERTORIALS/LETTERS:
Here are the advocacy tools we have in play right now:
- We have two radio ads in play - one citing the statewide editorial support for our "no ratio" position, and the other featuring a nurse speaking of her profession and the need for a team approach to health care. Listen to both by visiting www.mhalink.org and clicking on "News." They are dated 6/21 and 4/24, respectively.
- 70 hospital CEOs have signed on to our letter to Senators. (16 have not signed yet.) The 16 will be re-receiving calls today; please respond to these calls ASAP so we can get the letter detailing unanimous support into Senators' hands.
- We also have a "CNO-to-senators" letter in process.
- MARN and MONE have written a joint letter to every nurse (100,000-plus) across the state. That will be mailed by the end of next week.
- We ran an advertorial in the Globe and other newspapers last week and have more space booked in July.
☑ Send letters to the editor. Work with your local paper to show your caregiving team in action, and how it will be affected if the MNA's "staffing guideline" bill passes.
D. SPECIAL KUDOS TO HOSPITALS:
In this e-mail and in subsequent ones through the legislative session, we'll focus on what select hospitals are doing to advance the hospital community's goal of ensuring that the restrictive, shortsighted MNA bill does not pass. Feel free to copy these strategies and send along your own ideas that have proven successful.
WINCHESTER HOSPITAL: This morning, Winchester Hospital met with the board of the North Suburban Chamber of Commerce, which formally voted to oppose H.4988, and mandated staffing ratios in general. A representative from Lahey Clinic was also at the meeting, presenting a "unified front" on the issue.
☑ Meet with your local Chamber and have them write a letter to your Senators.
BERKSHIRE MEDICAL CENTER: The hospital sent a contingent of LPNs to the State House to voice their opposition to the MNA bill. We heard from State House staffers that this was an extraordinarily effective strategy; Senators told us they did not realize how the MNA bill is RN-centric and would adversely affect LPNs and others. I cannot emphasize this strategy strongly enough. It is the one consistent feedback we get from State Senators: You need to have staff nurses go to the State House in opposition to ratios!
☑ Send members of the caregiving team to the State House.
E. FAX CAMPAIGN:
It's still one of the best ways to get our message - in volume - before Senators. Everyone who receives this e-mail should already have sent off a fax to their Senators by making a few simple clicks here. More importantly, you can send the fax link along to co-workers, family, and friends to have them weigh in too. Here is the link that you can cut and paste in your own e-mail: http://mhalink.lettercampaign.org/activate/start.php?rindex=3
☑ Send a fax to your Senators and send the fax link to family and friends.
F: THE BOTTOM LINE:
Keep pressing. Get your nurses to the State House. Impress upon your Senators the need for them to demonstrate the political courage to defeat a bill that is scientifically unsound and that will tie the hands of caregivers in the delivery of care. Stay the course. Together we can succeed.
Thank you.
cc: CFO/V.P. Finance
V.P./Directors, Government Relations
V.P./Directors, Public Relations
V.P./Directors, Human Resources
V.P./Directors, Nursing
Mobilization Coordinators
2005-2006 MHHRA Goals in Review
Immediate Past President and President-Elect Goals Update
Marge Ransom
Diane Bono, President, asked me to serve in the President-Elect role as well as the Immediate Past President role this year. In these roles, I may be asked by the President to assist in any projects, additional roles, and to oversee the preparation of the ASHHRA Chapter Management submission.
I attended and participated in several collaborative meetings with MHA (specifically focused with PULSE development issues) and served on the Boston Coalition for Workforce Diversity.
We, the Association Manager and I, have begun collating the data necessary for the Chapter Management Submission. Given concern relative to last year's MHHRA submission, I am also preparing a document to be submitted to both Jim Fitzgerald, regional vice president, and Kathryn Fisk, President. This document will focus on the value added benefit to chapters, given the amount of work involved in preparing this submission, and the criteria used by the committee and their understanding of the criteria to evaluate the chapter activities for the year.
In June, I participated in a focus group with MHHRA Board members to determine the future of MHHRA and the direction that we need to take to be a viable in Chapter in the years ahead. This focus group will continue to meet over the next two months to develop further strategic initiatives for the future MHHRA Chapter.
It has been a pleasure to serve with Diane Bono and the 2005-2006 Board members. They are truly hard working and dedicated Human Resource leaders.
Labor/Legislative/Employee Relations Committee Goals Update
Ed Fiander and David Ryan
1. Forge a stronger link with ASHHRA Region I representative serving on ASHHRA's Legislative and Labor Committee so that MHHRA members can be kept informed about ASHHRA's activity in these areas, including keeping the membership updated on federal legislative initiatives related to our workforce and other "hot topics" on the labor relations front
Update: Our committee reached out to Mike Paruta, ASHHRA Region I's representative on the ASHHRA Labor and Legislative committee and as a result, we collaborated on communications to the MHHRA membership through emails and the newsletter to keep members informed on what is happening locally, regionally and at the national level
2. Produce a newsletter article for inclusion in MHHRA's quarterly newsletter to keep the membership apprised of the committee's activities
Update: Articles were included in the MHHRA newsletter on legislative, labor and employee relations issues and concerns, including recent cases on the supervisory status of RN's for purposes of representtaion and recognition by the NLRB, nursing staffing ratios, corporate campaigning by unions, etc.
3. Forge a stronger relationship/link with MHA on legislative issues at the state level to assist the committee in following workforce related state legislative activities
Update: We collaborated with the MHA to support the MHA's initiatives (and position) regarding nurse staffing ratio legislation; email "blasts" were sent to members to encourage their participation in the letter writing/faxing campaign targeted at their state legislators
4. Continue to collaborate with MHA for the Annual MHA Labor Forum
Update: We collaborated with the MHA again this year for another successful Annual MHA Labor Forum which took place on May 5th.
MHHRA Board Goals update
Diane Bono
1. To ensure that the mission of the organization is carried out: Mission Statement: Through educational programs and collegial exchanges, the mission of MHHRA is to develop leadership, increase competencies and foster excellence for Human Resources professionals and service producers in the healthcare industry.
Update: We carried out the mission of the organization by holding regular Board Meetings to review the work of committees and results of programs and other initiatives. Also, during the program year, MHHRA began connecting specific program efforts to ASHHRA HR Leader Competencies. Finally, the creation of "The Pulse" web-based tools for health careers provides a consistent approach for reaching out to career decision maker and lessons the administrative burden on HR professionals across Massachusetts.
2. To ensure that on-going program development meets the needs of the membership.
Update: Each year the chapter conducts a survey of membership to identify ongoing learning interests of our members. Also, members receive information about programs happening outside through other ASHHRA Chapters such as Rhode Island. Finally, at the conclusion of each program evaluations are taken to help continue to understand the effectiveness of programs and the learning that can be applied.
Program/Diversity Committee Goals Update
Donna Bonaparte
1. Define members' needs for education and training through surveys, focus groups, and/or other research.
Update: The assessment of membership needs was obtained by survey and informed of the most sought after topics. We learned that these were Change Management, Developing HR Competencies, Creating Work/Life Balance and Labor Forum.
2. Provide forums of information sharing, training and development that assist healthcare HR professionals address or respond to challenging related issues.
Update: To meet our goal of providing forums for training and development that enhances the ability to respond to challenging and changing issues we offered a targeted program "A Practical Toolkit for Managing Change in Healthcare Organizations". Recognizing that a critical strategic advantage for healthcare organizations is the capacity to stay ahead of and effectively manage continuous and inevitable change, this interactive session featured practical takeaways and exposure to change management concepts and tools.
3. Incorporate diversity into programming.
Update: Diversity competency is a core value and component of the programming goals. To assist participants obtain and maintain competency, our Presenter from the nationally recognized firm of Roosevelt Thomas Consulting & Training provided the framework to creating clarity around diversity management, concepts examining organizational and individual tools for diversity skill-building, and exploring the pursuit of cultural competence in the 21st Century.
4. Assist our members to build collaborative relationships with HR professionals within healthcare and partnering organizations.
Update: Our goal of supporting members included creating the opportunities to collaborate to increase individual competence, organizational effectiveness and productivity in addition to improving the quality of the interactions with members. Our programs created forums for relationship building through specific topic problem solving and scenarios in addition to informational exchanges and communication enhancement.
5. Promote chapter's program calendar and individual programs through strategic, creative marketing and to Increase chapter membership.
Update: In the calendar program year we enhanced our capability to promote our programs through the use of strategic methods of communications which included multiple mediums. Our program announcements were offered via e-mail, on our Website (with the ability to register on line) and through traditional methods such as US mail.
Recruitment/Retention/Recognition Committee Goals Update
Ginny Rehberg
1. Continue to reach out to HR professionals in the broader Massachusetts and Rhode Island healthcare industry including mental health, home care organizations, skilled nursing home facilities, managed care and community health organizations; examine feasibility of inclusion of healthcare-related areas such as medical technology, biotechnology, medical device organizations, etc.
Update: Ensured Program announcements, MHHRA information was available on MHHRA website. Coordinated efforts with the Sponsorship and Program committees to promote MHHRA. Worked closely with MHHRA office management to ensure renewal notices were sent to members early in the Chapter year.
2. Continue to collaborate with various board committees to more closely to ensure membership and program activities are pursuing the same goals, serving the membership needs and evaluating results for ongoing improvement.
Update: Coordinated efforts with program committee to ensure our program announcements reached non-MHHRA members. Website inquiries and membership information requests were acknowledged via MHHRA office management.
3. Devise new ways to boost membership including personal outreach to new prospective members and former members as well as innovative reward programs.
Update: Requested that members bring colleagues to meetings and events to promote interest in becoming MHHRA members. Targeted membership campaign with invoice renewal strategy. |
