Dialysis Patient Safety Act to Continue After Stakeholder Meetings

September 2017

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Jeff Rogers, Communications Specialist
Jeff.Rogers@unacuhcp.org | 909-263-7230

SACRAMENTO —

California State Senator Ricardo Lara announced today plans to hold SB 349 back from a vote in this Assembly session, in order to meet with stakeholders to strengthen the bill for when the legislature reconvenes later in the year.

UNAC/UHCP respects and understands the Senator’s decision. We believe in the legislative process, through which we’ve already achieved safe staffing ratios in hospitals—because decades of research have shown that when health care professionals are free to attend fully to every patient, lives are saved and patients have a better chance to go home to their loved ones healthy. We are committed to continue working through the legislative process to ensure we have the strongest chance of winning safe caregiver ratios and other patient care protections in the chronic dialysis setting.

As Senator Lara said, “Our patients deserve to know that California treats these facilities that give life-preserving treatment in the same way we do hospitals and nursing homes, with safe staffing, patient-conscious practices and regular inspections.”

Senator Lara has been a great health care champion and a champion for UNAC/UHCP and its members. We’ll continue to work with him to transform the dialysis industry in California so that dialysis caregivers like registered nurses and patient care technicians can provide the best possible care for their patients.

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United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) represents over 28,000 registered nurses and other health care professionals, including nephrology caregivers; optometrists; pharmacists; physical, occupational and speech therapists; case managers; nurse midwives; social workers; clinical lab scientists; physician assistants and nurse practitioners. UNAC/UHCP is affiliated with the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO.