BILL NUMBER: S5294

SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring hospi-
tals to develop a violence prevention program

 
PURPOSE:

To require hospitals 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 critical medical care in
such emergency departments.

 
SUMMARY OF 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 of any accrediting organization approved by the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services under which such hospital main-
tains accreditation provided however that such standards are comparable
to those established by the Joint Commission on Health Care Organiza-
tions;

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 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 securi-
ty personnel on premises at all times in a manner that prioritizes phys-
ical presence near, or within close proximity to, the emergency depart-
ment of such hospital with direct responsibility to the emergency
department, over a reasonable period of time.

Section 2 provides for the effective date.

 
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.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.4909B Of 2023-2024: Amended on Third Reading (T) 4909B, Re-passed
Senate, Returned to Assembly;

A.4848 of 2020

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect two hundred and seventy days after it shall
have become law.