Requires hospitals to establish a violence prevention program which includes a workplace safety and security assessment and develop a safety and security plan that addresses identified workplace violence threats or hazards.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A203B
SPONSOR: Cruz TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring hospi-
tals to develop a violence prevention program
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To require hospitals and nursing homes to establish a violence
prevention protection program including the establishment of security
personnel in hospital emergency departments to protect from violence and
verbal and physical abuse of doctors, nurses and staff who provide crit-
ical medical care in such emergency departments.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill requires hospitals to establish a violence
prevention program to require:
*each hospital shall create such program consistent with the workplace
violence standards approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services and standards established by the Joint Commission on Health
Care Organizations;
*general hospitals located in a city or county with a population of one
million or more shall be required to have at least one-off duty law
enforcement officer or trained security personnel be present at all
times in the emergency department with consideration of emergent circum-
stance in any hospital; and
*General hospitals located in a city or county with a population less
than one million shall be required to have at least one off-duty law
enforcement officer or trained security personnel on premises at all
times in a manner that prioritizes physical presence near, or within
close proximity to, the emergency department of such hospital with
direct responsibility to the emergency department. This shall not apply
to hospitals designated as a critical access hospitals, sole community
hospitals, or rural emergency hospitals. However, if any such hospital
experiences increased rates of violence, as determined by the commis-
sioner of health, or abuse of emergency department personnel evidenced
by internal reporting pursuant to the violence prevention program or
reports to law enforcement the commissioner shall work with the critical
access hospital, sole community hospital, or rural emergency hospital to
come into compliance with the requirement, to have at least one off-duty
law enforcement officer or trained security personnel on premises at all
times in a manner that prioritizes physical presence near, or within
close proximity to, the emergency department of such hospital with
direct responsibility to the emergency department, over a reasonable
period of time.
JUSTIFICATION:
Physicians, Nurses, and other healthcare employees are exposed on a
daily basis to the potential of assault or other violent situations in
the course of their duties.
Assault on the job is one of the most frequent causes of serious inju-
ries in the healthcare industry, and violence is a more common cause of
injury than in other industries. U.S. healthcare workers suffer thou-
sands of workplace violence-related injuries every year that require
time away from work for treatment and recovery (i.e., serious injuries).
In a 2022 American College of Emergency Physicians survey of E.R.
doctors, 55 percent said they had been physically assaulted, almost all
by patients, with a third of those resulting in injuries. 85 percent had
been seriously threatened by patients. The risks can be even higher for
E.R. nurses, with over 70 percent reporting they had sustained physical
assaults at work.
The 2022 American College of Emergency Physicians survey further found
that the incidences of workplace violence in emergency departments
contributed to staff shortages due to staff injury, emotional trauma,
and anxiety, As well as increased wait times for patients and delay of
critical medical care.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.4848 of 2020
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect two hundred and seventy days after it shall
have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
203--B
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CRUZ, DINOWITZ, SEAWRIGHT, HEVESI, KASSAY,
KELLES, COLTON, EPSTEIN, DAVILA, SANTABARBARA, HAWLEY, MEEKS, ZACCARO,
RAGA -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee -- again reported from said committee with amend-
ments, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring hospi-
tals to develop a violence prevention program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section
2 2832 to read as follows:
3 § 2832. Violence prevention program. 1. For the purposes of this
4 section, the term "facility" shall mean a general hospital or a nursing
5 home as defined in section twenty-eight hundred one of this article.
6 2. Within twelve months of the effective date of this section, every
7 facility shall establish a workplace violence prevention program. Such
8 program in a general hospital shall be consistent with regulatory
9 requirements including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
10 Hospital Conditions of Participation regarding caring for patients in a
11 safe setting 42 CFR § 482.13(c)(2), and emergency preparedness 42 CFR §
12 482.15(a) and (d)(1), and the workplace violence standards of any
13 accrediting organization deemed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
14 Services under which such hospital maintains accreditation provided
15 however, such standards are comparable to those established by The Joint
16 Commission. The purpose of such a program shall be to protect health
17 care workers, patients, facility residents, and visitors. The program
18 shall, at a minimum, include the requirements set forth in this section.
19 3. Beginning January first, two thousand twenty-seven, all general
20 hospitals shall conduct, not less than annually, a workplace safety and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00723-06-5
A. 203--B 2
1 security assessment and develop a safety and security plan that
2 addresses identified workplace violence threats or hazards. As part of
3 the plan, a general hospital shall adopt security measures and policies,
4 including personnel training policies designed to prevent or minimize
5 identified workplace violence threats or hazards and protect employees,
6 patients, and visitors from aggressive or violent behavior, including
7 but not limited to, credible threats, assaults, injuries, and deaths. In
8 conducting the assessment and developing the plan, general hospitals
9 shall ensure the active involvement of employees, including the recog-
10 nized collective bargaining agent or agents, if any, and may do so
11 through established general hospital safety and security committees and
12 existing labor management committees. Nothing in this section shall
13 diminish, supplant or restrict the rights, privileges and remedies of
14 any employee or collective bargaining representative under applicable
15 law, rule or regulation or under the terms of a collective bargaining
16 agreement.
17 4. The safety and security assessment shall be tailored to the size,
18 complexity, and local geographical factors affecting the general hospi-
19 tal and shall identify and consider relevant threats and hazards,
20 including but not limited to workplace violence incident reports and
21 incident logs, concerns or complaints raised by employees, patients,
22 visitors and recognized collective bargaining representatives, safety
23 and security considerations relating to the general hospital's layout
24 and access points, visitor management, and protective factors such as
25 access control, engineering controls to limit violence or protect
26 employees, alarms and communication systems, and other relevant factors,
27 as appropriate to the general hospital. Additionally, the assessment
28 shall consider the adequacy of employee training policies and security
29 procedures, including the handling of disruptive or violent patients and
30 other persons. Health care workers regularly assigned to provide securi-
31 ty in general hospital settings shall be trained regarding the role of
32 security in overall hospital operations.
33 5. Based on the findings and ongoing review of the workplace violence
34 assessment, general hospitals shall implement a workplace violence safe-
35 ty and security plan, which shall be updated as necessary to address
36 newly identified material risks and changes in conditions. The safety
37 and security plan shall specify methods to reduce identified risks,
38 which may include employee training, increased staffing and security,
39 engineering controls such as barriers, lighting, alarms and communi-
40 cation systems, safety equipment, general hospital improvements or
41 modifications, and other appropriate measures relevant to the general
42 hospital. Each general hospital shall provide a written detailed summary
43 of the safety and security plan to its employees and collective bargain-
44 ing representatives, if applicable. Each general hospital shall also
45 provide information to its employees and collective bargaining represen-
46 tatives, if applicable, about how to report incidents of workplace
47 violence. Each general hospital shall share summaries of the incident
48 log, appropriately redacted to protect the privacy of persons involved
49 in an incident, trends and analysis of relevant data with the general
50 hospital security or safety committee responsible for workplace violence
51 and ensure that the data is part of the workplace violence assessment
52 process.
53 6. Notwithstanding any provision of this section, compliance by a
54 nursing home with the federal regulations 42 CFR 483.71(a)(3) and
55 (b)(1), and 42 CFR 483.73(a)(1), governing nursing homes shall satisfy
A. 203--B 3
1 the requirements of this section for such facilities, provided that such
2 assessments and plans address workplace violence threats and hazards.
3 § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2832-a
4 to read as follows:
5 § 2832-a. Emergency department security. 1. A general hospital located
6 in a city or county with a population of one million or more shall be
7 required to have at least one off-duty law enforcement officer or
8 trained security personnel be present at all times in the emergency
9 department, subject to emergent circumstance in any hospital that
10 requires an adjustment in personnel.
11 2. A general hospital located in a city or county with a population
12 less than one million shall be required to have at least one off-duty
13 law enforcement officer or trained security personnel on premises at all
14 times in a manner that prioritizes physical presence near, or within
15 close proximity to, the emergency department of such hospital with
16 direct responsibility to the emergency department. This shall not apply
17 to hospitals designated as critical access hospitals, sole community
18 hospitals, or rural emergency hospitals. However, if any such hospital
19 experiences increased rates of violence or abuse of emergency department
20 personnel, by an amount to be determined by the commissioner, evidenced
21 by internal reporting pursuant to the violence prevention program or
22 reports to law enforcement the commissioner shall work with the critical
23 access hospital, sole community hospital, or rural emergency hospital to
24 come into compliance with the requirement, to have at least one off-duty
25 law enforcement officer or trained security personnel on premises at all
26 times in a manner that prioritizes physical presence near, or within
27 close proximity to, the emergency department of such hospital with
28 direct responsibility to the emergency department, over a reasonable
29 period of time.
30 § 3. This act shall take effect on the two hundred eightieth day after
31 it shall have become a law.
