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Nurses Push For Minimum Staffing Requirements At Hospitals In NY

New York State Capitol in Albany
wxxinews
New York State Capitol in Albany

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)  Nurses in New York want state lawmakers to set minimum staffing requirements to address what they say is a significant understaffing problem at hospitals around New York state, a problem they say puts patients at risk. 

The nurses will kick off the effort to pass the legislation on Tuesday at the state Capitol. 

They note that nurses have filed thousands of formal protests alleging understaffing at hospitals around the state. 

But hospital executives say the requirement would add billions of dollars to health care costs that would be passed on to patients and undermine their flexibility to set their own staffing levels by imposing top-down requirements. 

The proposal has been debated in the Legislature for years. It has bipartisan support but its outlook this year is unknown.

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