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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Ben Turner |
State Rep. Tim Seip |
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House passes Seip bill to guide Pa. health-care workforce efforts
HARRISBURG, June 30 – The House of Representatives today passed a bill introduced by state Rep. Tim Seip that is designed to focus greater attention to the needs of Pennsylvania’s health-care workforce.
Seip’s proposal (H.B. 1573) would implement part of the governor’s health care-reform plan by authorizing the Pennsylvania Center for Health Careers, which Gov. Ed Rendell created, to continue beyond the current administration. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
“As a member of the health-care community, I recognize and appreciate the complexity associated with formulating and sustaining a workforce to meet the needs of our health-care system in Pennsylvania,” said Seip, a longtime social worker who serves as secretary of the House Health and Human Services Committee.
As is current practice, the center would be governed in the future by a Health Careers Leadership Council composed of the secretaries of Labor and Industry, State, Health and Public Welfare, four members of the General Assembly, and other public members appointed by the governor. Among its duties, the center would focus on workforce demands, examine recruitment and retention efforts, review diversity strategies within the industry, and assess the state’s medical education and training programs.
“The overall goal is working together to steer the state’s health-care workforce to meet the demands and challenges we face today and in the years to come. It’s important to make sure our health-care professionals have the tools and resources they need to care for our citizens,” Seip said.
Seip also has worked for health-care reform by voting last month for bipartisan legislation that would protect patients. That bill would ban mandatory overtime for nurses and other patient-care workers in hospitals and other health-care facilities. The House of Representatives passed that bill (H.B. 834) by a vote of 166-31.
The mandatory-overtime ban would provide exceptions in the case of emergencies and when health-care workers are required to stay beyond their regular shift to complete a patient procedure. That legislation has been referred to the Senate Labor and Industry Committee.
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