H.R. 1309, Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act

The bill would

• Require the Secretary of Labor to issue an interim final standard, a proposed standard, and a final rule to prevent workplace violence based on existing Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines
• Require certain employers in the health care and social service sectors and employers conducting related activities in those sectors to develop and implement plans to protect against and prevent workplace violence
• Require hospitals and skilled nursing facilities to comply with the new standard as a condition of a Medicare provider agreement
• Impose intergovernmental and private-sector mandates by requiring facilities to comply with the OSHA standard

Estimated budgetary effects would primarily stem from

• Changes in Medicare payments to certain affected facilities to defray increased administrative and capital costs
• Spending by OSHA to develop the standards, assuming appropriation of authorized amounts

Areas of significant uncertainty include

• Predicting the requirements of the final standard
• Estimating the extent to which covered entities are already complying with the OSHA guidelines
• Estimating the reduction in workplace violence associated with the new requirements