Healthcare Facilities Face Growing Wave of Workplace Violence Regulations

Healthcare organizations across the United States are bracing for a significant regulatory shift as federal and state governments implement comprehensive workplace violence prevention requirements. This evolving landscape demands immediate attention from healthcare leaders who must navigate new compliance obligations while maintaining operational excellence.

Federal Standards on the Horizon

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced plans to release a proposed workplace violence prevention standard for healthcare and social service facilities, with a final rule expected in 2025. This federal standard will likely apply to hospitals, medical centers, residential treatment centers, nursing homes, mental health centers, and private homes where healthcare workers provide services.

Currently, OSHA relies on the General Duty Clause to address workplace violence in healthcare settings, but the new standard will establish specific, enforceable requirements. After the final rule takes effect, facilities will have 30-60 days to comply, creating an urgent timeline for implementation.

State-Level Momentum Accelerates

California leads the regulatory charge with Senate Bill 553, signed into law in September 2023, creating the first general-industry workplace violence prevention requirement in the United States. The law mandated that employers develop and implement workplace violence prevention plans by July 1, 2024.

Multiple states have joined this movement in 2025. New York amended its Retail Worker Safety Act in February, while Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming have all introduced healthcare-specific workplace violence prevention legislation. Texas healthcare facilities must already comply with workplace violence prevention policies under SB 240, and North Carolina now requires law enforcement officers in hospital emergency departments.

In January, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed Ohio House Bill 452, The Healthcare Workplace Safety Act, into law marking a significant victory for nurses and health professionals across the state. This legislation addresses the growing crisis of workplace violence in Ohio hospitals, providing new safeguards and protections for those who dedicate their lives to caring for others. Proposed legislation in Pennsylvania would not only outline new requirements, but would also create the first grant program for hospitals in that state to aid with compliance with annual on-site threat assessments and necessary safety-enhancing changes.

The Business Case for Compliance

This regulatory push is a response to alarming statistics that underscore the severity of workplace violence in healthcare. Healthcare workers face five times more workplace violence than employees in other industries, with hospital workers experiencing 10.4 assaults per 10,000 workers compared to 2.1 per 10,000 in all private sector industries.

In addition to the human cost, workplace violence carries significant financial implications. A recent American Hospital Association study estimates the annual U.S. economic impact at $18.7 billion, including medical expenses, lost productivity, staff turnover, and legal costs. Individual incidents requiring medical treatment average $32,000, while legal settlements can reach $800,000 to $1.2 million.

Compliance Challenges and Coverage Variations

Healthcare organizations must carefully evaluate which regulations apply to their specific facility types. While assisted living and skilled nursing facilities will generally be covered by both federal OSHA standards and state laws like California's SB 553, private physician practice groups face different requirements. Federal legislation currently exempts standalone physician offices, though they may still fall under state regulations depending on size and public accessibility. Consolidation and interpretation of regulations is often complex, and can leave more questions than answers when trying to move toward compliance.

Staying Ahead of Regulatory Changes

The rapid pace of regulatory development creates a critical challenge for healthcare organizations: how to monitor, interpret, and implement new requirements as they emerge. Traditional approaches to regulatory compliance—relying on legal counsel, industry associations, or manual monitoring—may prove insufficient given the complexity and speed of these changes.

One promising solution to help healthcare organizations stay on top of new regulations is OPTICS for Healthcare, an AI-first platform that enables a “current state assessment” of healthcare facilities. The platform produces a GAP analysis with an option to generate custom policies and playbooks that help organizations establish measurable goals and actions to reduce incidents of workplace violence. Built into OPTICS is a regulatory alert and monitoring function that aggregates and tags new regulations, laws, and evidence-based industry best practices that help organizations operationalize compliance in an evolving regulatory environment. 

As the regulatory landscape continues to intensify, healthcare organizations must proactively prepare for workplace violence prevention requirements. The question is no longer whether these regulations will affect your facility, but how quickly you can adapt to meet them.

About David Brake

DAVID is the Co-founder and CEO of OPTICS for Healthcare, an AI-first company dedicated to creating safer healthcare environments for staff, patients, and the public. The OPTICS platform was designed to revolutionize how healthcare organizations approach facility assessments, enabling them to conduct comprehensive current-state evaluations, generate detailed gap analyses, and develop customized workplace violence policies and action-specific operational playbooks.

About Kim Urbanek

KIM is a leading Workplace Violence Prevention expert with over 26 years of healthcare, security, and emergency management  experience. Kim is a nationally sought-after speaker, a #1 best-selling author, and a recognized healthcare consultant. Kim is the Co-founder and Chief of Innovation and Practice of OPTICS for Healthcare, an AI driven workplace violence risk assessment and mitigation tool, designed to reduce violence and improve operations at healthcare organizations.