BILLS » NANCY January Eventually our driving and dinner conversations — turn to different bills that are appearing on the senate floor. He is very interested in dialysis-related bills, for obvious reasons. There are several of them, one of which (2022-114) reduces the numbers of nurses and technicians that are needed for a given number of patients. “So this bill will increase the number of people who can get dialysis by reducing the needed nurses?” Mark asks me. “Yes, the current ratio is twelve patients to one nurse. The language of the bill would double that, so twice as many patients would require only one nurse.” “So it would reduce costs and increase profits?” “Yes, but it would also increase risks to patients. If an event occurred with two of the patients at the same time, there wouldn’t be a second nurse available. The probability of co-occurrence is almost double: if it is a 10% chance with twelve patients, it is a 20% chance with twenty four.” “That is a lot of increased risk” “At the same time, the bill would make dialysis available to another ten thousand or so poorly insured patients, because of the cost reduction. So they would go from no dialysis to the prescribed amount, we are hoping.” “And that is worth the risk?” “I don’t know.”
We are at an Indian restaurant tonight — ordering a dozen different breads for just the two of us. Mark really loves Indian - 53 -
