Safe Staffing Saves Lives

The chronic short-staffing at hospitals is causing healthcare workers to leave the profession in record numbers, while patients are suffering dangerously long ER wait times. Maryland needs a Safe Staffing Act to reduce caregiver burnout, trauma and turnover, and to improve the quality of patient care. The Safe Staffing Act of 2025 (HB 905) establishes staffing committees in each hospital that bring the knowledge and experience of frontline health care workers to bear on staffing challenges and patient care conditions. Nine other states have already benefited from a Safe Staffing Act. Maryland urgently needs the Safe Staffing Act to fix the short-staffing crisis in our hospitals and to reduce ER wait times.

HB 905 Safe Staffing Act is Collaborative, Flexible, and Timely.

• Collaborative: Joint labor and management committees have successfully addressed issues such as safe lifting and workplace violence. This approach now needs to be applied to ensure safe staffing.

• Flexible: The staffing plans can be amended at any time and can be adapted to the unique needs of each hospital.

• Timely: The Safe Staffing Act will help hospitals meet the quality metrics for the new AHEAD model.

Those Closest to the Problem are Closest to the Solution

This bill has passed the House and we need Chair Beidle to call HB905 for a vote in order for it to pass the Senate.

The Patient Worker Collaborative is a new coalition of patients, family members, and healthcare workers, who together represent over 1 million Marylanders who are affected by the state’s hospital staffing crisis — the longest emergency room wait times in the country, high staff turnover, and reduced quality of care.