Territory's Nursing Sector Faces Uncertainty as Pafford Contracts Near Expiration

The Pafford contracts are expiring in days, and senators at Wednesday’s meeting of the Committee on Health, Hospitals and Human Services wanted reassurance from hospital executives that the territory’s nursing sector would not be plunged into chaos.

“I’m very very concerned,” said Senator Samuel Carrion, noting that the Juan F. Luis Hospital’s contract arrangement with the medical services contractor is set to conclude on May 11. “You currently have about 25 RNs [registered nurses] that are on staff through that contract. What will happen on May 12th?” Mr. Carrion asked JFL Chief Executive Officer Douglas Koch.

“I know some of them are in the ICU division. Will it be left without some nurses on some shifts?” The senator then pressed further. “What’s the plan? Today is May 3rd!”

Mr. Koch sought to reassure lawmakers. “We’ve known that this date is coming for some time, and it doesn't mean that those people necessarily need to walk away at that point. It means that the payment structure with DOH goes away as of May 11th,” he explained. According to the JFL CEO, both hospitals have been working with Pafford to sign contracts directly, utilizing the organization as a staffing agency. Mr. Koch told senators that Pafford had recently provided the hospital with figures relating to a new contract, and also that the hospital has initiated contracts with two other staffing agencies. However, as Mr. Koch stressed, “the ultimate goal is to hire our own nurses.”

To that end, Mr. Koch noted that “with the recent completion of our negotiations and increasing the wage that we’re able to offer to our permanent nurses, we’ll hopefully continue to improve our ability to recruit and retain nurses locally.”