Union members said this is the first time hundreds of Allina doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants have gone on strike.<\/p>\n
WEST ST PAUL, Minn \u2014 For the first time in Minnesota, hundreds of Allina doctors hit the picket lines for a one-day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all here together because we believe primary health care can and needs to be better,\u201d said Cora Walsh, a doctor at Allina Health\u2019s West St. Paul clinic. \u201cHealthcare has changed dramatically in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walsh is a member of the Doctors \u2013 Council SEIU, a union made up of Allina physicians, nurse practitioners, and physicians\u2019 assistants. The union was formed two years ago and has 600 members.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen done well, primary care saves lives,\u201d Walsh said.<\/p>\n
The strikes happened across the metro. She said they\u2019re fighting for adequate staffing, so they can better support their patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe majority of us have felt forced to cut back patient appointment times simply to keep up with growing volume of work outside those appointments. Our patients feel this. When the wait to see your doctor is months long, it is a reflection of the shortage of primary care providers and staff,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Allina Health said they had a contingency plan in place “which includes working with the more than 25% of providers represented by the union who chose to work.”<\/p>\n
Matt Hoffman, a doctor at an Allina Health clinic in Vadnais Heights, said they started the union after there were staff and pay cuts three years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been fighting for our patients for three years and we will never stop fighting for them,\u201d Hoffman said.<\/p>\n
He said they\u2019re also fighting for better pay and benefits. He said pay isn\u2019t the most important thing. He said they\u2019re looking for small pay increases. Hoffman said they want benefits to stay the same, such as retirement and healthcare. He said the contract language would allow Allina to change those things at any time. He said it\u2019s important to retain and attract primary health care providers.<\/p>\n
The union and Allina have met dozens of times since the union was formed. Hoffman said Allina was done bargaining until the union voted to strike. He said they\u2019ve met twice since members voted to strike.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Allina Health said, \u201cWe deeply value our care team members and remain committed to providing competitive compensation and benefits. However, we must balance these commitments with the broader financial realities facing the health care industry, our patients and consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be irresponsible for either party to agree to a contract that adds significant new expenses that will undermine access and increase costs to those who pay for care,\u201d the statement further reads.<\/p>\n
Peg Carls is an Allina Health patient and attended the rally to show her support. She said she loves how empathic and smart her doctor is, but she said she has noticed a change in the clinic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t have the support staff. I can see the difference over the years that their support staff has decreased. The people they have are excellent, but they need more help,\u201d Carls said.<\/p>\n
Carls said her clinic used to do in-house lab testing, but now they outsource it. She said they used to get their results right away and now they must wait. Carls said getting results promptly is critical for some patients.<\/p>\n
She said she wants Allina Health to recognize that primary care is essential and has personally made a difference in her life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have an active life, but that\u2019s not without some struggles, and if I didn\u2019t have that support, I\u2019m afraid I\u2019d be a bigger expense to the medical system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Allina Health said it\u2019ll continue to negotiate with the union. Hoffman said the two sides will have another bargaining session in December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Union members said this is the first time hundreds of Allina doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-276969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}