Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 441 § 441.775 — Hospital professional and technical staffing committee

Hospital professional and technical staffing committee. (1)(a) For each hospital there shall be established a hospital professional and technical staffing committee. A hospital professional and technical staffing committee shall consist of an equal number of hospital professional and technical managers and professional and technical staff who work at the hospital. (b) If the professional and technical staff who work at the hospital have an exclusive representative, the exclusive representative shall select the staff members of the hospital professional and technical staffing committee. (c) If none of the professional and technical staff who work at the hospital have an exclusive representative, the professional and technical managers shall select the professional and technical staff members of the hospital professional and technical staffing committee. (2) A hospital professional and technical staffing committee shall develop a written hospital-wide professional and technical staffing plan in accordance with subsection (5) of this section. In developing the staffing plan, the primary goal of the committee shall be to ensure that the hospital is staffed sufficiently to meet the health care needs of the patients in the hospital. The committee shall review and modify the staffing plan, as needed, in accordance with this section. (3) A majority of the members of the hospital professional and technical staffing committee constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business. (4) A hospital professional and technical staffing committee must have two cochairs. One cochair shall be a professional or technical manager elected by the members of the committee who are professional or technical managers. The other cochair shall be a professional or technical staff person elected by the members of the committee who are professional and technical staff. (5)(a) A hospital professional and technical staffing committee shall develop a professional and technical staffing plan that is consistent with the approved nurse staffing plan for the hospital and that takes into account the hospital service staffing plan for the hospital developed under ORS 441.776. (b) The hospital professional and technical staffing committee shall consider the following criteria when developing the professional and technical staffing plan: (A) The hospital’s census; (B) Location of the patients; (C) Patient types and patient acuity; (D) National standards, if any; (E) The size of the hospital and square footage of the hospital; (F) Ensuring patient access to care; and (G) Feedback received during committee meetings from staff. (6)(a) A hospital professional and technical staffing committee must adopt a professional and technical staffing plan by a majority vote of the members of the committee. If a quorum of members present at a meeting comprises an unequal number of professional and technical staff and professional and technical managers, only an equal number of staff and managers may vote. A staffing plan adopted by the committee must include a summary of the committee’s consideration of the criteria in subsection (5) of this section and how the plan: (A) Is consistent with the approved nurse staffing plan for the hospital; and (B) Takes into account the hospital service staffing plan for the hospital that was developed in accordance with ORS 441.776. (b) If the hospital professional and technical staffing committee does not adopt a professional and technical staffing plan or adopts only a part of the staffing plan, either cochair may invoke the commencement of a 60-day period during which the committee shall continue to develop the staffing plan. If, by the end of the 60-day period, the committee does not adopt a staffing plan or adopts only part of a staffing plan, the committee shall submit the disputed plan or parts of the plan, as applicable, including a summary of the committee’s consideration of the criteria in subsection (5) of this section, to the chief executive officer of the hospital. No later than 60 days after receiving the submission from the committee, the chief executive officer or the chief executive officer’s designee shall decide the disputed plan or parts of the plan, as applicable, considering the summary of the committee’s consideration of the criteria in subsection (5) of this section, and adopt the staffing plan or parts of the staffing plan that were not adopted by the committee. The chief executive officer or the chief executive officer’s designee shall provide to the committee: (A) A written explanation of the staffing plan or the parts of the staffing plan that were in dispute; (B) The final written proposals of the members of the committee and the members’ rationales for their proposals and the committee’s summary of the committee’s consideration of the criteria in subsection (5) of this section; and (C) A summary of the consideration by the chief exe