Baystate Home Health Clinicians to Deliver Petition on February 3 to CEO Peter Banko Calling for a Fair Contract to Ensure Safe, Accessible Care for Springfield Patients

A petition signed by community members in support of clinicians calls on the Baystate Health CEO to follow through on promise to lead a clinician-driven organization

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The nurses and healthcare professionals of Baystate Home Health, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, will deliver a petition on Monday, February 3 to Baystate President & CEO Peter Banko urging him to respond to the concerns of clinicians, settle a fair contract, and allow home health patients to continue to receive the high-quality care they deserve.

"A clinician-led organization prioritizes the feedback and suggestions of its clinicians," Baystate Home Health clinicians wrote in a letter to Banko that was signed as a petition by nearly 300 community members. "We have been encouraged by your pledge to stabilize Baystate Health through staff support and improving patient care. In Baystate Home Health you have an opportunity to immediately fulfill this promise. Please join us in reaching a fair contract agreement that will boost our job satisfaction and empower us to provide high-quality home care."

Baystate Home Health Clinician Petition Delivery
Date: Monday, February 3, 2025
Time: 2 p.m.
Location: Will meet outside the Baystate corporate offices at 280 Chestnut St., Springfield, and then go inside to deliver the petition. Media interview availability – contact Joe Markman with questions at 781-571-8175.

Baystate Home Health clinicians work with an especially vulnerable population in the north end of Springfield, Forest Park and other areas that have concentrations of financially disadvantaged patients. The care they provide contributes to Baystate's stated community benefits mission to "reduce health disparities, promote community wellness, and improve access to care for priority populations."

Home health patients increasingly have complex medical needs that are being treated outside of the hospital setting. Baystate patients rely on Home Health clinicians' care following surgery, to manage a chronic illness, recover from a heart attack or stroke, and much more. Clinicians' efforts to provide this care have been undermined by Baystate's approach to contract negotiations:

• Baystate is seeking to eliminate health insurance premium cost limits for clinicians. This could lead to unaffordable healthcare for the very people caring for Baystate patients.
• Baystate also wants to require clinicians to work five times as many evening hours a year than previously required. This would drive people away from these positions.
• Even though there is a high demand for nurses and other healthcare professionals in Massachusetts, and nurses at hospitals are in many cases receiving substantial pay increases, Baystate has put forward minimal pay proposals for Home Health clinicians.
  • Non-competitive pay will harm Baystate's ability to improve patient safety through clinician recruitment and retention.
• In addition, Baystate has refused to discuss our proposals to improve continuity of care for patients.

The results of this negotiation process are critical to how home health patients receive care, as evidenced by a 2024 survey from the state's Center for Health Information and Analysis. The survey found that almost half of all registered nurses working in home health care and adult day care left their jobs within a year.

A 2023 report by the leading home care and hospice associations said home health care providers were turning away over 25% of referred patients due to staff shortages. The home care report described a range of workforce challenges, including nurse salaries being lower when they work in home healthcare settings.

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 25,000 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