86R26683 SCL-F
By: Howard, Thompson of Harris, Klick, H.B. No. 1146
Zerwas
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1146:
By: Thompson of Harris C.S.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 committee responsible for developing
and implementing a facility's workplace violence prevention plan
under Section 331.0002.
(3) "Facility" means:
(A) a home and community support services agency
licensed or licensed and certified under Chapter 142 to provide
home health services as defined by Section 142.001, and that
employs at least two registered nurses;
(B) a health care provider that:
(i) is certified by the commission to
provide services through the home and community-based services or
Texas home living Medicaid waiver programs; and
(ii) employs at least two registered
nurses;
(C) a hospital licensed under Chapter 241,
including a hospital maintained or operated by this state;
(D) a nursing facility licensed under Chapter 242
that employs at least two registered nurses;
(E) an ambulatory surgical center licensed under
Chapter 243;
(F) a freestanding emergency medical care
facility as defined by Section 254.001; and
(G) 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 committee to develop and
implement the workplace violence prevention plan required under
Section 331.0004.
(b) A committee must include at least:
(1) one registered nurse who provides direct care to
patients of the facility; and
(2) one employee of the facility who provides security
services for the facility if the facility employs security
personnel and if practicable.
(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 the practice setting;
(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 or psychological trauma; 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 provide at least annually
workplace violence prevention training or education that may be
included in other required training or education to the facility's
health care providers and employees, including temporary
employees, who provide direct patient care;
(4) prescribe a system for responding to and
investigating violent incidents or potentially violent incidents
at the facility;
(5) address physical security and safety;
(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 to
adjust patient care assignments, to the extent practicable, to
prevent a health care provider or employee of the facility from
being required to treat or provide services to a patient who has
intentionally physically abused or threatened the provider or
employee.
(c) The written workplace violence prevention plan adopted
under Subsection (a) may satisfy the requirements of Subsection (b)
by referencing other internal facility policies and documents.
(d) 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.
(e) Each facility shall make available on request an
electronic or printed 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 at a minimum offer immediate post-incident services,
including any necessary acute medical treatment 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. 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.