CO lawmakers propose bill to prevent violence against healthcare workers

DENVER — State lawmakers have introduced a bill in an attempt to quell the growing number of attacks on health care workers in Colorado.

Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that health care and social service workers are five times more likely to be assaulted on the job than other occupations.

The Colorado Nurses Association Research Advisory and Networking Team states that workplace violence in health care is “widespread, underreported and detrimental to workplace safety and patient outcomes.” The same summary says that the impact of the problem leads to increased stress, burnout, trauma and even leaving the profession. Reducing violence in the workplace is critical to preventing “the worsening of the nursing shortage crisis,” according to the report.

State Rep. Eliza Hamrick, D – Arapahoe and Douglas counties, hopes to prevent workplace assaults for health care workers with House Bill 24-1066. It would apply to hospitals, emergency departments, nursing facilities, assisted living facilities and federally qualified health care centers.

The bill would require facilities to establish workplace violence prevention committees that document and review all incidents of violence against employees. These committees will create violence prevention plans that are specific to their workplace.

“This creates a protocol for workers on the ground to amplify their voice on workplace violence committees,” Hamrick said. “That’s the beauty of the bill, that the workers at the facility determine what would be most beneficial.”

The bill states that 60% of workplace violence is presented as verbal aggression, 36% involves threats, 29% is classified as physical violence and 4% involves the use of an object or weapon.

Hamrick said the framework contained in the bill is based on best practices.

“There was a law passed in California that reduced workplace violence by about 40 percent, and it’s modeled after that law,” Hamrick said. “There are already criminal penalties for assaulting a nurse, and what our bill does is it looks at the preventative side… We’ve seen this time and time again, you know, more penalties don’t necessarily reduce some types of crime.”

Assaulting a health care worker is a felony in Colorado, Hamrick said.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Colorado supports the bill.

“In mental health, what we’re most concerned about is that if you take them down the criminal justice path, they’re going to get into a rut that’s really hard to get out of,” said executive director Ray Merenstein. “We’re trying to actually build a system that works, rather than maintain a system that no longer works for mental health.”

The Colorado Board of Behavioral Health Care (CBHC) is currently taking an amended position on the bill. Those at CBHC said they took this position because they see some redundancies in what is already required of health care facilities from a provider perspective.

The bill has been tabled in the House of Representatives and is waiting to be scheduled for committee.

Colorado lawmakers aim to prevent violence against healthcare workers with proposed bill

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