Pete Sessions: “Because of the huge discrepancy in the Area Wage Index which applies in Mobile and Baldwin Counties, Alabama as compared…”

“Because of the huge discrepancy in the Area Wage Index which applies in Mobile and Baldwin Counties, Alabama as compared to our neighboring areas of Pascagoula, Mississippi and Pensacola, Florida, not to mention the even greater discrepancy with other parts of the country, we are beginning to face a critical shortage of skilled registered nurses with which to staff our hospitals. In the last three months alone we have lost at least 87 registered nurses from our area labor pool to traveling nurse agencies and to facilities in adjacent states. Collectively, we have over 200 registered nurse vacancies in the hospitals of Mobile and Baldwin Counties. . . . We are literally unable to compete with the salaries that are being offered these individuals because of the very low (.80) Medicare Area Wage Index under which we must now labor. Already our ability to handle the volume of patients being seen in our emergency rooms has been hampered and the waiting time has increased significantly.”