HR3178-119

What This Bill Does

The Save Healthcare Workers Act treats violence against hospital personnel as both a federal criminal and grant-policy issue. It creates a new 18 U.S.C. section 120 making it a federal crime to knowingly assault an individual employed by a hospital, or by an entity contracting with a hospital or other medical facility, while that person is performing duties and the assault interferes with or limits those duties. The baseline penalty is a fine, up to 10 years in prison, or both; the penalty rises to up to 20 years when a deadly or dangerous weapon is used, bodily injury is inflicted, or the assault occurs during a declared public emergency. The bill includes an affirmative defense when the defendant has a physical, mental, or intellectual disability and the conduct was a clear and direct manifestation of that disability. It defines hospitals to include acute, long-term care, rehabilitation, cancer, children's, critical access, and rural emergency hospitals. It also creates a DOJ grant program for hospital workforce safety and security, funding de-escalation and mental-health-crisis training, coordination with state and local law enforcement, access controls, video surveillance, metal detection, panic buttons, alert systems, restricted access, safe patient and staff rooms, and other Attorney General-approved measures. Grant applications require intended use explanations, data and record assurances, certifications, guidelines within 90 days, annual congressional reports, grant accountability, and a 25 million dollar annual authorization for fiscal years 2025 through 2034.

Who Benefits and How

Hospital employees benefit from federal assault penalties and grant-funded security measures aimed at reducing workplace violence. Nurses and bedside care workers benefit from de-escalation training, panic buttons, safe rooms, and access control technologies. Hospitals with demonstrated security and financial need benefit from DOJ grants for violence-prevention programs. Patients benefit if reduced staff assaults and intimidation lower absenteeism, turnover, and care disruptions. State and local law enforcement agencies benefit from formal coordination with hospitals and federal partners.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Assault defendants face new federal prosecution exposure and up to 10 or 20 years of imprisonment depending on aggravating factors. Hospital chief executives must submit applications, certify compliance, maintain programmatic and financial records, and report grant data. DOJ grant administrators must issue guidelines, score hospital applications, monitor accountability, and report annually to Congress. Federal courts and prosecutors must apply the new offense, enhanced penalties, and disability-related affirmative defense. Federal appropriators bear the 25 million dollar annual authorization through fiscal year 2034.

Key Provisions

• Creates a federal crime for knowingly assaulting hospital personnel while they perform duties.
• Increases penalties to 20 years for deadly weapons, bodily injury, or emergency-declaration assaults.
• Provides an affirmative defense for conduct that is a clear and direct manifestation of certain disabilities.
• Authorizes DOJ grants for de-escalation training, law-enforcement coordination, access control, surveillance, metal detection, panic buttons, alert systems, and safe rooms.
• Requires applications, guidelines, annual congressional reporting, grant accountability, and 25 million dollars per year through fiscal year 2034.