Sponsors (32)
The bill substantially improves safety for healthcare and social‑service workers (and patients) through mandatory prevention plans, training, and supports, but does so at the cost of meaningful compliance expenses and administrative burdens—especially for small and rural providers—and with reduced procedural review of the rulemaking.
Healthcare and social‑service workers (and the patients they serve) will be covered by legally required, facility‑specific workplace violence prevention plans that reduce assault risk and improve workplace safety.
Covered employees will have access to trauma counseling and medical care after incidents, helping recovery and reducing long‑term harm from workplace violence.
Workers will receive regular training and meaningful participation rights in safety planning, improving preparedness and employee voice in safety decisions.
Hospitals and skilled nursing facilities will face new compliance costs (policy development, engineering controls, security personnel, training, recordkeeping and reporting) that could raise operating costs and potentially increase costs for patients or reduce resources for care.
Smaller and rural providers may struggle with the administrative burden and upfront costs of tailored plans and reporting, risking service reductions or loss of Medicare participation if they cannot meet requirements in time.
The statute waives normal rulemaking procedures and analytic review for the interim standard, reducing public review and regulatory scrutiny of costs and impacts.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Requires Labor to issue and enforce an OSHA-like interim workplace violence prevention standard for health care and social service employers and makes compliance a Medicare participation condition for certain facilities.
Introduced April 1, 2025 by Tammy Baldwin · Last progress April 1, 2025
Requires the Secretary of Labor to issue an interim final workplace violence prevention standard for employers in health care, social services, and similar settings within one year; the standard must be based on OSHA’s 2015 guidelines, go into effect quickly, and require covered employers to create and run comprehensive workplace violence prevention plans. The bill also makes compliance with that federal workplace violence standard a condition of Medicare participation for hospitals and skilled nursing facilities that otherwise would not be covered by OSHA or an approved State plan, with that Medicare requirement taking effect one year after the interim standard is issued. The measure accelerates the rulemaking timeline by waiving certain procedural requirements for the interim standard while still requiring public notice and a 30-day comment period; it requires a proposed final OSHA-like standard within two years and prioritizes a compliance assistance period. Employers will face enforceable obligations and facilities that participate in Medicare may lose payment eligibility if they do not comply.