86R6758 SCL-F
By: Howard H.B. No. 1146
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to workplace violence prevention in certain health care
facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Title 4, Health and Safety Code, is amended by
adding Subtitle H to read as follows:
SUBTITLE H. EMPLOYEES OF HEALTH CARE FACILITIES
CHAPTER 331. WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PREVENTION
Sec. 331.0001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Commission" means the Health and Human Services
Commission.
(2) "Committee" means the workplace violence
prevention committee or other safety committee responsible for
developing and implementing a facility's workplace violence
prevention plan under Section 331.0002.
(3) "Executive commissioner" means the executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission.
(4) "Facility" means:
(A) a home and community support services agency
licensed under Chapter 142;
(B) a hospital licensed under Chapter 241,
including a hospital maintained or operated by this state;
(C) a nursing facility licensed under Chapter
242;
(D) an ambulatory surgical center licensed under
Chapter 243;
(E) a freestanding emergency medical care
facility as defined by Section 254.001; and
(F) a mental hospital licensed under Chapter 577.
Sec. 331.0002. WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PREVENTION COMMITTEE.
(a) Each facility shall establish a workplace violence prevention
committee or authorize an existing safety committee to develop and
implement the workplace violence prevention plan required under
Section 331.0004.
(b) A committee must include at least one registered nurse
who provides direct care to patients of the facility and, if
practicable, one employee of the facility who provides security
services for the facility.
(c) A health care system that owns or operates more than one
facility may establish a single committee for all of the system's
facilities if:
(1) the committee develops a violence prevention plan
for implementation at each facility in the system; and
(2) data related to violence prevention remains
distinctly identifiable for each facility in the system.
Sec. 331.0003. WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PREVENTION POLICY. (a)
A facility shall adopt, implement, and enforce a written workplace
violence prevention policy in accordance with this section to
protect health care providers and employees from violent behavior
and threats of violent behavior occurring at the facility.
(b) The workplace violence prevention policy adopted under
Subsection (a) must:
(1) require the facility to:
(A) provide significant consideration of the
violence prevention plan recommended by the facility's committee;
and
(B) evaluate the facility's existing plan;
(2) encourage health care providers and employees of
the facility to provide confidential information on workplace
violence to the facility's committee;
(3) include a process to protect from retaliation
facility health care providers or employees who provide information
to the facility's committee; and
(4) comply with commission rules relating to workplace
violence.
Sec. 331.0004. WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PREVENTION PLAN. (a)
The committee of a facility or health care system, as applicable,
shall adopt, implement, and enforce a written workplace violence
prevention plan in accordance with this section to protect health
care providers and employees from violent behavior and threats of
violent behavior occurring at the facility or each facility of the
health care system.
(b) A facility's workplace violence prevention plan adopted
under Subsection (a) must:
(1) be based on:
(A) the needs of each area, department, and shift
of the facility; and
(B) evidence-based practices relating to
violence prevention;
(2) adopt a definition of "workplace violence" that
includes:
(A) an act or threat of physical force against a
health care provider or employee that results in, or is likely to
result in, physical injury, psychological trauma, or stress,
regardless of whether the provider or employee sustains an actual
injury; and
(B) an incident involving the use of a firearm or
other dangerous weapon, regardless of whether a health care
provider or employee is injured by the weapon;
(3) require that a facility's health care providers,
permanent employees, and, if applicable, temporary employees who
provide direct patient care at least annually receive workplace
violence prevention training;
(4) prescribe a system for responding to and
investigating violent incidents or potentially violent incidents
at the facility;
(5) address factors that may increase or decrease
incidents of workplace violence at the facility, including:
(A) the facility's staffing plans and patient
classification schemes;
(B) the facility's security or emergency
response system, including the alarm system, an alert system, and
the availability of security personnel;
(C) security risks associated with public access
to specific areas of the facility and the area surrounding the
facility; and
(D) security concerns associated with particular
types of employment, equipment, and facilities;
(6) require the facility to solicit information from
health care providers and employees when developing and
implementing a workplace violence prevention plan;
(7) require health care providers and employees to
report incidents of workplace violence through the facility's
existing occurrence reporting systems; and
(8) require the facility to include processes in the
facility's staffing plan for adjustment of patient care
assignments, to the extent practicable, to ensure that a health
care provider or employee of the facility is not required to treat
or provide services to a patient who has intentionally physically
abused or threatened the provider or employee.
(c) A committee at least annually shall:
(1) review and evaluate the workplace violence
prevention plan adopted by the committee under this section; and
(2) report the results of the evaluation described by
Subdivision (1) to the governing body of the facility or health care
system as applicable.
(d) Each facility shall make available on request a copy of
the facility's workplace violence prevention plan to each health
care provider or employee of the facility unless the committee
determines the plan contains information that would pose a security
threat if made public. The committee may redact that information
before providing the plan.
Sec. 331.0005. RESPONDING TO INCIDENT OF WORKPLACE
VIOLENCE. (a) Following an incident of workplace violence, a
facility shall offer immediate post-incident services, including
acute treatment and access to psychological evaluation and support,
for each health care provider or employee of the facility who is
directly involved in the incident.
(b) A facility may not discourage a health care provider or
employee from exercising the provider's or employee's right to
contact or file a report with law enforcement regarding an incident
of workplace violence.
(c) A person may not discipline, including the suspension or
termination of employment, discriminate against, or retaliate
against another person who:
(1) in good faith reports an incident of workplace
violence; or
(2) advises a health care provider or employee of the
provider's or employee's right to report an incident of workplace
violence.
Sec. 331.0006. WORKPLACE VIOLENCE REPORT TO COMMISSION.
(a) A facility shall annually file a written report with the
commission on:
(1) whether the facility has established a committee
in accordance with Section 331.0002 or is part of a health care
system in which a committee was established;
(2) whether the facility has adopted a workplace
violence prevention plan required by Section 331.0004; and
(3) whether the facility's committee has evaluated the
facility's workplace violence prevention plan and reported the
results to the facility.
(b) Information reported under Subsection (a) is public
information under Chapter 552, Government Code.
(c) To the extent possible, the commission shall collect the
data required under Subsection (a) as part of any survey or
submission of information required by other law.
Sec. 331.0007. ENFORCEMENT. An appropriate licensing
agency may take disciplinary action against a person who violates
this chapter.
SECTION 2. Not later than September 1, 2020, a facility
subject to Chapter 331, Health and Safety Code, as added by this
Act, shall adopt and implement a workplace violence prevention plan
in accordance with Section 331.0004, Health and Safety Code, as
added by this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.