OSU Medical Center Canceling Life-Saving Medical Procedures Rather than Pay its Nurses

(Columbus, OH) — The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is canceling open-heart surgeries and other life-saving procedures, reportedly through Wednesday, November 11, due to staffing shortages.

Effective October 1, 2026, the Medical Center let lapse its Incentive Pay Program, which had enabled it to reach, or at least come close to, minimum safe staffing levels throughout its facilities. Since the program’s expiration, units have been consistently short-staffed and beds have been blocked, limiting the hospital’s ability to care for Central Ohio patients.

The Ohio State University Nurses Organization (OSUNO), a local of the Ohio Nurses Association that represents nurses at OSU, was in negotiations with OSUMC leadership leading up to the expiration of the incentive pay program and warned hospital executives that they would not be able to fully staff their facilities without either incentive pay or a significant increase in staffing. OSUNO members again rejected OSUMC’s “last, best, and final offer” on Friday, and medical center leadership has refused to return to the bargaining table.

“Our nurses are working their assigned fulltime hours, and then it’s up to each individual to decide whether they want to pick up additional shifts under this post-incentive pay system,” said OSUNO President Alex Watts, RN. “The result has been exactly what we warned OSUMC leadership about: units are unacceptably short-staffed and nurses are being forced to care for more patients than they should. This cancellation exposes just how dependent OSU had become on nurses working overtime to keep its hospitals functioning.”

“OSU Medical Center spent $2 billion building a gleaming new hospital tower but failed to make the most critical investment of all: the nurses and health professionals needed to safely care for patients,” said ONA President and OSUMC Staff Nurse Rick Lucas, RN. “In a staggering display of arrogance and incompetence, executives refused to negotiate a program that would effectively fill critical staffing vacancies. This isn’t a hospital that can’t afford to staff safely. It’s a hospital whose executives have chosen greed over patient care. Now surgeries are being canceled, beds are closing, and patients are being denied care. These are not unavoidable staffing shortages. This is a crisis manufactured by executives, while patients and staff are paying the price for their greed and failed leadership.”

“Our nurses, doctors, and health professionals remain unwavering in their commitment to providing exceptional patient care, even as OSU executives make decisions that undermine our ability to deliver it,” said ONA President Rick Lucas, RN. “Let’s be clear: These decisions are hurting people. Patients are losing access to critical care, and health professionals are being pushed to their breaking point. ONA stands ready to negotiate a real solution that safely staffs every unit and fairly compensates nurses. But OSU leadership must stop playing games with people’s lives, return to the bargaining table, and restore access to care. Every day they refuse to act, patients and staff pay the price.”