House advances bill requiring Vermont hospitals to adopt workplace-violence prevention plans

The Vermont House on March 18 adopted a strike-all amendment to H.259, a bill that would require hospitals to develop and implement workplace-violence prevention plans, create incident-reporting systems, set training standards and include certain costs in hospital budget review with the Green Mountain Care Board.

Representative from Bristol (the committee sponsor) told the House the bill responds to an uptick in violence against health-care workers and the lack of uniform requirements in Vermont hospitals. "H.259 will require uniform standards and requirements for developing workplace-violence prevention programs based on evidence and best practices," the sponsor said on the floor, citing testimony from health-care coalitions and Vermont program for quality in health care that found gaps in training, data…