MultiCare Deaconess and Valley Hospitals issued fines by Department of Health over lack of staffing charter
MultiCare Deaconess and Valley hospitals were each fined $15,500 for not complying with a new Washington law aimed at hospital staffing.
Approved by the state Legislature in 2023, the new law required all Washington hospitals to submit a hospital staffing charter by June 1, 2024. These charters outline how the committee that creates a hospital’s staffing plan is set up. Under the law, these committees must comprise at least 50% nonsupervisory nurses.
When the two Spokane-based MultiCare hospitals missed the June deadline, they were each fined $8,000 by the state Department of Health. As of Dec. 26, the hospitals have still not filed a charter and were fined an additional $7,500 each.
In a statement, MultiCare spokesperson Kevin Maloney said the health system is “committed to delivering staffing plans for MultiCare Deaconess and Valley Hospitals.”
“The plans have been finalized and will be submitted to the Department of Health in the coming days,” he wrote. “We recognize this timeline is longer than planned but completing this work thoughtfully and thoroughly required more time than anticipated.”
The composition of the staffing charter was one item in contention when MultiCare agreed to a new contract with nursing staff earlier this year.
Service Employees International Union Healthcare NW1199 President Jane Hopkins in a statement that local nursing staff at the hospitals had approved a staffing committee charter.
“Previously, our union was unable to agree to a charter with MultiCare because management was trying to prohibit union members from having equal 50-50 voting on our staffing committee. We stood united to make sure that frontline healthcare workers have an equal voice, and we won,” Hopkins said. “We are disappointed that MultiCare refused to follow the law for so long, but we recently agreed to approve the charter with language that reflects the intent of the law and ensures healthcare workers have equal voting on the staffing committee.”
Under the law, hospitals are required to submit their final hospital staffing plan to the state by Jan. 1 and resubmit their plans annually. The law requests the plan to be implemented by July 2025.