Nurse Overtime and Patient Safety Act

Key Points

• The bill would stop hospitals, clinics, and other Medicare-funded facilities from forcing nurses to work beyond a scheduled shift, more than 48 hours a week, or more than 12 hours straight in a day.
• Nurses would get a guaranteed 10-hour rest period after working 12 hours in a day, and time spent in required meetings, training, or on-call at the facility would count toward the hour limits.
• Hospitals could only require overtime during an official declared emergency or disaster, and even then must first try other ways to fill the shift.
• Nurses could not be fired, demoted, or reported to licensing boards for refusing mandatory overtime, and would have a formal way to file complaints with the government.
• Facilities that violate the rules could be fined up to $10,000 per violation, with the government publishing a public list of penalized providers online.