New York City Nurses And Hospitals Dig In During Strike's Second Week |
In this week’s edition of InnovationRx, we look at the New York city nurses’ strike, why Yann LeCun’s AI startup is focused on healthcare, Epic’s new predictive tools, and more. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.
The largest nurses’ strike in New York City’s history entered its 10th day on Wednesday with no end in sight.
Nearly 15,000 workers are striking at three big hospital systems: New York-Presbyterian, Mount Sinai and Montefiore Medical Center. The nurses said that the action was necessary to improve staffing, pay and security. Violence has become an increasing concern, with reports of patients punching and kicking nurses; in November, a gunman threatened to shoot up the Mount Sinai emergency department.
The New York State Nurses Association contract expired on December 31. Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who took office on January 1, stood with the striking nurses, saying that there is “no shortage of wealth in the healthcare industry.”
The strike comes as New York has been hit with a surge in flu cases, driven by a new variant called subclade K, and as President Trump and Republican-majority Congress have slashed federal healthcare subsidies to the state by billions of dollars.
The hospitals affected by the strike remain open, and have been hiring traveling nurses to cover for workers on the picket lines. Kenneth Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, a trade group that has assisted hospitals in their strike planning, told The New York Times that the three hospitals have........