A dozen nurses at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx have received notices saying their positions were being eliminated, and their union\u2019s blaming artificial intelligence \u2014 claims a hospital spokesperson called \u201cinaccurate and misleading.\u201d<\/p>\n
Representatives of the New York State Nurses Association said at a press conference that the union had filed a grievance over the notices, contending that Montefiore\u2019s actions constitute a breach of their labor agreement.<\/p>\n
The hospital system disputed the union\u2019s claims, without going into detail.<\/p>\n
“As is often the case, the claims by NYSNA are inaccurate and misleading,\u201d Joe Solomonese, a spokesperson for Montefiore, said in a statement. \u201cWhat is true is that we are always investing in new technology to ensure the best care and outcomes for our patients and will continue to do so for the betterment of the people we serve.”<\/p>\n
Concerns that AI will replace healthcare jobs were a major issue raised during the nurses strike at Montefiore and other New York City hospitals earlier this year. AI is becoming increasingly common in healthcare, and is used for purposes that include taking notes during patient encounters and aiding in diagnostics.<\/p>\n
The nurses who received the notices from Montefiore all work in utilization review, according to the NYSNA, which said the notices went out in May.<\/p>\n
Utilization review involves justifying to patients\u2019 insurance providers that the services they\u2019re receiving are medically necessary and ensuring the services are covered.<\/p>\n
The nurses said Montefiore changed its utilization review process earlier this year to make it more heavily automated, using AI-powered software they said was provided by the company Datavant.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aOur patient population deserves better than this,\u201d Montefiore nurse Ajita Mathew said, adding that it\u2019s still unclear to nurses how the technology is affecting the rate of insurance payment denials.<\/p>\n
But Montefiore did not confirm that layoff notices were sent out or that its utilization review process had changed. It did not respond to questions about its contracts with Datavant.<\/p>\n
NYSNA released a copy of one of the letters a nurse received and said it was similar to the others nurses received.<\/p>\n
\u201cI deeply regret to inform you that your position will be eliminated 45 days from the date of this letter,\u201d states the notice, dated May 28.<\/p>\n
The letter, signed by Shalesia Sookra, an employee and labor relations manager at Montefiore, states that the hospital system will use the 45-day window to determine whether other suitable positions are available within the health system.<\/p>\n
The contract NYSNA reached with Montefiore following this year\u2019s strike includes language stating that if the use of AI results in the \u201cdiminishment\u201d of union jobs, hospital management must meet with the union to discuss a way to avoid that outcome.<\/p>\n
NYSNA filed a class-action grievance with Montefiore on June 1, alleging that the hospital system violated its contract by failing to meet with the union before sending out notices about nurses\u2019 jobs being eliminated. A copy of the grievance was shared with Gothamist.<\/p>\n
Several local elected officials were present at Wednesday\u2019s virtual press conference and echoed NYSNA\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aI’m certainly not against technology,\u201d said Assemblymember Amanda Septimo, a Democrat representing the Bronx. \u201cBut we have to be very strong in making sure that new technology is not abused and is not used as a tool to cut costs, cut patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Union representatives are calling on Montefiore to halt the 45-day timeline for eliminating the nursing positions, which ends July 12, and to meet with NYSNA to discuss alternatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A dozen nurses at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx have received notices saying their positions were being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-284154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}