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SNA Officers 2009

President (2yr. Term 2009-2010	Sue Gadbois
Vice President	Stacy Lewis
Treasurers	Cathleen Lukrich
	Florie Tiscornia
Secretary	Kery Poterake
Board Members (Appointed)	Charlotte Schatz
	Michael Broussard

Thank you
for taking the time to vote during a busy
Holiday Season

Save the Date

SNA will be sponsoring a class on Legal Aspects of Nursing featuring Laura Mahlmeister on May 14, 2009. Flyers will be mailed to your home.

2008-2010 Contract

We've just finished reviewing Draft #2 of the new contract. When editorial corrections, index, etc. are finalized, we'll be sending the contract to the printer.

Revised AUP forms

As this newsletter is written, the revised AUP forms are at the printer. We'll deliver them to departments when printing is complete.

Please note the revised forms have a section devoted to both Lead Nurse with patient assignment and GRASP acuity utilization %.

SNA Membership Meetings 2009

Friday 1/30
Friday 4/3	1:30p and 4p
Friday 6/26	SNA office 401A College Ave.
friday 9/25	(corner of College & Glenn)

Prescription Drug Benefit

When reading the open enrollment materials sent by the Hospital to Nurses last fall, the SNA Board discovered that the Hospital planned to implement one of their contract proposals concerning the prescription drug benefit that SNA had rejected in contract negotiations.

You may recall that the Hospital had proposed that Nurses pay not only the brand name co-pay for a prescribed drug but also the difference in cost between the generic form of the drug and the brand name form of the drug.

SNA rejected this proposal. We were surprised to see the Hospital planned to implement this benefit change.

Victoria Ashley, Director of HR worked out a correction when this was brought to the attention of Hospital Administration. A separate route (invisible to the Nurse) has been created for Nurses' prescription drug claims possessing. Victoria also promised that a letter would be sent to Nurses that explains the error & correction.

Retiree Health Benefit

Members of Hospital Administration presented the new St. Joseph Health System's Retiree Health Benefit (effective 7/1/09) to the SNA Board.
Per the new contract, SNA has the right to accept this new plan or to keep the current plan with the improvements negotiated in the new contract.

Current plan- Nurses who retire after 1/1/09
Eligible at age 55 with 15+ years of service until eligible for Medicare

15 yos	$275/mo	$3,300/yr	$33,000 max/55yrs	$16,500 max/60yrs
20 yos	$300/mo	$3,600/yr	$36,000 max/55yrs	$18,000 max/60yrs
25 yos	$325/mo	$3,900/yr	$39,000 max/55yrs	$19,500 max/60yrs
15yos				$9,900 max/62yrs
20yos				$10,800 max/62yrs
25yos				$11,700 max/62yrs

*Max amounts are calculated on 3 retirement age examples*

The new St. Joseph's Retiree Health Benefit establishes accounts with $ amounts, that very with age and years of service.

Note, in the new plan, Nurses are not eligible for the benefit until they are 60 yrs of age with 20yrs of service at retirement or aged 65 with 10 or 15yrs of service at retirement.

The account values are as follows:
Age 60 & 20yos, account value= $11,000
Age 61 & 20yos, account value= $13,000
Age 62 & 20yos, account value= $15,000
Age 63 & 20yos, account value= $17,000
Age 64 & 20yos, account value= $19,000
Age 65 & 20yos, account value= $21,000

Age 65 & 15yos, account value= $15,000
Age 65 & 10yos, account value= $11,000
*The Hospitals plan provides for a 5yr transition period that ends 7/1/2014, during which time the Nurse retiring from SRMH could choose between the 2 plans.

The new SJHS plan has 2 advantages:

• The accounts continue to be available to Nurses after they are eligible for Medicare.
  
  
• There are no restrictions on yearly amounts.
  
  However
• The Nurse must be at least aged 60 to qualify.
• The $ amounts available to Nurses are significantly less- for Nurses leaving SRMH between the ages of 55-62.
• The $ amounts of the accounts in the new plan may not be sufficient to cover health expenses for the retired Nurse beyond Medicare eligibility anyway.- For example the Nurse who retires at age 60 with 20yrs of service would have only $11,000. That may not be enough to cover the 5yrs until the Nurse is eligible for Medicare-let alone beyond.
• The $ amounts offered in the new plan do not favorably compare with the current plan until the Nurse is 62+ yrs of age at retirement with 20 yrs of service.
• The account amounts are significantly less than the amounts offered by area Hospitals ($20,000-$35,000). These accounts at area Hospitals do not "sunset" with Medicare and are available to Nurses aged 55 or older with 15 or more years of service.

The SNA Board is comparing the two plans carefully. Data shows that more than 1/2 of the Nurses eligible for the current benefit left SRMH between the age of 55 and 62. The new plan would not provide a benefit to retiring Nurses aged 55-60 regardless of years of service (after the transition period).

The Retiree Health Benefit is likely to be a subject for 2010 contract negotiations. Our decision must factor in the effect on future negotiations. We are particularly concerned about the permanent loss of benefit for Nurses who leave SRMH prior to age 60.

We plan to make a decision at our Board meeting on January 20, 2009. We realize that whatever our decision it will benefit some Nurses and not others. We strive to make a decision benefiting the greatest number of Nurses.

Call Bank Guarantee

Shortly after contract negotiations concluded in Oct 2008, the SNA Board learned that members of Hospital Administration planned to change their years long practice regarding guaranteeing hours of work for Nurses called in from call vs pay in lieu of that work.

Staff Nurses in OR learned that for the first time since the early 1980's, they would be required to work the full 3hr guarantee even if patient care is completed rather than the long term practice of paying the Nurse for the guaranteed number of hours when called in and allowing them to return home once patient care is completed.

Working the entire three hour guarantee when patient care is completed after 2 hours or so has a huge impact on Nurses who may be scheduled for a regular shifts both before and after call shifts. Nurses have no objection to staying for as long as patient care requires but remaining at the Hospital when patient care is finished leads to needless exhaustion.

Whereas the SNA contract gives the Hospital the choice between guarantee work or pay in lieu, the SNA Negotiating Team had no idea that the Hospital intended to change it's long standing choice.

Kathy Hardin, CNO, has indicated that she believed that Nurses worked the full guaranteed hours. She states she was not aware that the Hospital had exercised the pay in lieu of option.

Members of the SNA Board have met with Staff Nurses from depts. Affected by the Hospital's change in practice- OR, PACU, Endo, Cath Lab, and ASC on December 28, 2008. A decision was made by Nurses at that meeting to present a proposal to Hospital Administration that would mitigate the effect of this change.

As this newsletter is written, we are in the process of finalizing the proposal and reviewing it with SNA's attorney.

After the proposal is presented to and discussed with Hospital Administration, the proposal including any changes proposed by the Hospital will be subject to a ratification vote by Staff Nurses in affected departments.

15 Year Service Award

Per contract the value of the 15yr service award has been updated to $5,300. Please remember this benefit is taxable.

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