Senate committee hears testimony on SB166 to develop workplace-violence metrics for hospitals

Senator Robert Mullica presented Senate Bill 166 to the Senate Health & Human Services Committee and the panel heard testimony from hospital systems, nursing organizations and consumer advocates in support of the bill’s two‑step approach to reducing workplace violence in health care settings.

SB166 would ask the state’s hospital quality incentive payment (HQIP) process and a stakeholder group to develop recommended metrics and strategies to reduce workplace violence and to determine whether federal or other funding could be used to incentivize hospital prevention policies. Proponents described the proposal as a “carrot”‑based strategy that would reward hospitals that adopt effective prevention policies rather than immediately increasing criminal penalties.

Senator Mullica said the bill aims first to add a workplace‑violence prevention policy metric to the HQIP component of the hospital provider fee program so hospitals could qualify for incentive payments by demonstrating concrete policies and actions. The second step creates a stakeholder convening to define workplace violence, identify evidence‑based metrics, and draft recommendations for future legislation.

Witnesses supporting the bill included Mark Longshore, executive director of the Colorado Nurses Association; Natalie Nicholson, chief nursing officer at Denver Health; Bridget Fraser, senior manager of public policy at the Colorado Hospital Association; Isabel Cruz, policy director for the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative; Danielle Schlafman, representing the Colorado Organization of Nurses; and Renee Shon, a UCHealth emergency‑department nurse and clinical quality specialist. Testimony emphasized that health care workers are at elevated risk for workplace violence and that consistent data collection and multi‑stakeholder collaboration are needed to design effective, evidence‑based interventions.

Natalie Nicholson said Denver Health sees a range of incidents and described local tracking: “We see an average of 8 physical assaults, 3 [sexual] assaults, 7 verbal threats, and 46 harassment” in the time frame she referenced. Other witnesses urged inclusion of patient advocates and people with lived experience in the stakeholder group and suggested extending the proposed timeline for metric development. The Colorado Hospital Association recommended allowing the existing HQIP subcommittee to perform this work with added stakeholder consultation and suggested lengthening the stakeholder timeline to one year to avoid fiscal impacts.

Committee members asked about other states’ approaches; Senator Mullica and witnesses said many states require workplace‑violence prevention policies but they did not find other states using the same incentive‑based model tied to HQIP. The committee left the amendment phase open and laid the bill over for action at a subsequent meeting, allowing more time for draft amendments and stakeholder comment.

Background: Testimony referenced federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) programs and the state HQIP process as models for using incentive payments to drive quality improvements in health care. Witnesses said HQIP paid approximately $128,000,000 to Colorado hospitals in the most recent year cited in testimony and recommended careful metric design and stakeholder inclusion to avoid unintended consequences such as underreporting.