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MNA: Lawmakers to Examine Legislation to Protect Patients, Nurses, and Healthcare Professionals from Unsafe Staffing, Violence, and Lifting Injuries on June 23 at State House Hearing

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Decades of research support legislation to enact safe patient limits for nurses; the bill would task DPH with implementing enforceable limits in hospitals

State legislators to also review bills to protect home care clinicians from violence and nurses and healthcare professionals from patient lifting injuries

BOSTON, June 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Bills that would improve patient safety in hospitals by enacting safe patient limits for nurses, help prevent violence against home healthcare clinicians, and limit patient handling injuries among nurses and healthcare professionals will be heard by lawmakers during a June 23 hearing at the State House.

"MNA nurses and healthcare professionals look forward to testifying before the Joint Committee on Public Health about the importance of protecting patients and caregivers by enacting this critical legislation," Katie Murphy, a practicing ICU nurse, and President of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. "When nurses are overwhelmed with too many patients, care suffers, errors increase, and both patients and nurses are placed at unnecessary risk. For home healthcare workers, the need for workplace violence protections is equally urgent. No one should fear for their safety while providing care in someone's home."

"We must also stop normalizing patient handling injuries as part of the job," Murphy said. "MNA legislation would implement safe lifting standards and proper equipment to prevent musculoskeletal injuries that too often end caregivers' careers prematurely."

Legislative Hearing Details

What: A hearing held by the Joint Committee on Public Health.
When: Monday, June 23 at 9 a.m.
Where: Room B-1, State House, Boston. Those who do not plan to testify but want to watch the public hearing may view the livestream at https://malegislature.gov/.

Legislation:

An Act Promoting Patient Safety and Equitable Access to Care (S. 1522/H. 2448)
  • Sponsors: Sen. Lydia Edwards/Rep. Natalie Higgins
  • Nurses Testifying:
    • Liz Taylor, RN, BI Plymouth Hospital
    • Molly Donovan, RN, Cambridge Health Alliance Whidden
    • Mary Havlicek Cornacchia, OR RN, Tufts Medical Center
    • Michael Robicheau, ICU RN, Framingham Union Hospital
  • Massachusetts nurses care for too many patients at one time. This leads to poor patient care, adverse patient outcomes and exploited nurses leaving the bedside.
  • Annual surveys of MA nurses show that excessive patient assignments are the main reason for deteriorating quality of care and reduced RN morale.
  • Research supports this concern and limiting the number of patients assigned to a nurse has positive effects on patient outcomes, financial performance and nurse retention.
  • This bill would require the Department of Public Health to set limits on the number of patients a nurse can care for at one time. Limits would be set by hospital unit. A series of public hearings would be held to provide an opportunity for stakeholder input.

An Act Relative to Safe Patient Handling and Mobility in Certain Health Facilities (S. 1535/H. 2396)
  • Sen. Paul Feeney/Rep. Marjorie Decker
  • Nurses Testifying:
    • Dan Rec, RN, Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital
    • Beth Piknick, RN, retired
  • Nurses and other healthcare workers suffer more musculoskeletal injuries than any other profession, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These injuries can be career-ending for the employee and costly to the healthcare system.
  • This bill would require healthcare facilities to adopt and implement a safe patient handling and mobility program to identify, assess, and develop strategies to control the risk of injury to patients and healthcare workers associated with the lifting, transferring, repositioning, or movement of a patient or equipment.

An Act Providing Safeguards for Home Healthcare Workers (S. 1632/H. 2364)
  • Sponsors: Sen. John Velis/Rep. Bruce Ayers
  • Nurses Testifying:
    • Gina Ferragamo, RN, Mass General Brigham Home health
  • As the amount of care delivered in the home increases, so has the level of violence in this setting. In 2021, as many as 44% of home healthcare workers reported being physically assaulted.
  • This bill would require safety assessments of all home healthcare settings prior to services being provided.
  • Home healthcare providers would be empowered to leave dangerous situations without loss of pay or disciplinary action and would be provided time off for healthcare workers assaulted on the job to address legal issues.

RN Survey Results Show Need for Legislation

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The 2025 State of Nursing in Massachusetts survey showed nurses reporting high levels of care quality deterioration, unsafe staffing, increased workplace violence, and a lack of responsiveness on these topics from leaders.

Safe Patient Limits Survey Results
  • 67% of nurses reported they do not have enough time to provide patients with the care and attention they need— up 22 points since before the pandemic.
  • 49% of nurses were concerned on at least a weekly basis that unsafe staffing conditions could put their nursing license at risk.
  • 37% of RNs said they would not feel safe admitting a family member to the unit on which they work.

Multiple challenges bedside RNs face have become even more serious:
  • Not having time to provide care/attention needed – 68% (up 1% from 2024)
  • Not having enough beds for all patients – 62% (up 3% from 2024)
  • Inability to discharge patients to outside facilities – 52% (up 4% from 2024)
  • Workplace violence or abuse – 47% (up 10% from 2024)

Workplace Violence Survey Results

Nurses and other healthcare workers face physical or verbal violence every 36 minutes in Massachusetts hospitals. Healthcare workers experience violence at a rate five times that of other professions. In the years during and following the COVID-19 pandemic, this longstanding crisis has grown even more problematic.
  • 69% of nurses in 2025 said workplace violence and abuse is a serious problem – up five points from last year and 27 points from 2021.
  • 83% of nurses working in direct care teaching hospitals said violence is a serious problem
  • 23% said they do not feel safe in their workplace

Safe Patient Handling Background

Nurses and other healthcare workers suffer more musculoskeletal injuries than any other profession. This leads to increased direct and indirect costs associated with related injuries, loss of staff and decreased care for patients. It results in longer patient stays and poorer patient outcomes due to a lack of mobility.

As nurses move patients – each lifting 1.8 tons during an average shift – they are being injured at precipitous rates. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the overexertion injury rate for hospital workers is 68 per 10,000. This is double the average overexertion injury rate across all industries of 33 per 10,000. Solutions have been proposed by both a state task force and the MNA, and yet the hospital industry has failed to act.

A report by the Joint Commission said, "Patients are also at risk of multiple injuries and adverse events related to handling procedures. These include pain and discomfort as well as anxiety connected with being moved." The state Department of Public Health published a detailed report a decade ago on safe patient handling with recommendations that mirror the solutions in the MNA's legislation.

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 26,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association
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