The House of Representatives version (H.R.1195), which ACEP played a critical role in shaping so that its protections extended to emergency physicians who are in a group rather than directly employed by the hospital, passed in a bipartisan 254-166 vote in the House on April 16, 2021. The Senate version of the bill (S. 4182) was introduced just after LAC22 and has 27 cosponsors. ACEP is urging the Senate to follow the House and swiftly consider and pass this important legislation.

H.R. 7961: Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees (SAVE) Act

Introduced by Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) and Larry Bucshon, MD (R-IN) on June 7, 2022, four additional cosponsors as of June 17, 2022.

This new, bipartisan legislation takes critical steps to address emergency department violence by establishing legal penalties for individuals who knowingly and intentionally assault or intimidate health care workers, and creates grants to help hospitals and medical facilities establish and improve workplace safety, security, and violence prevention efforts.

This legislation is modeled after protections that currently exist for aircraft and airport workers, such as flight crews and attendants, whose exposure to violence and assault from unruly passengers has been extensively and publicly documented in recent years.

Your Voice Matters

Want to push these workplace-violence bills forward? Urge your legislators to cosponsor these bills and thank them for their support. Use ACEP’s Advocacy Action Center for a simple way to contact your legislators and ask for their support of these critical bills. You can also call their offices and share your personal stories from the ED. Your firsthand experience with workplace violence is especially compelling and helps legislators put a face to the concern.

Jordan Grantham is senior content manager at ACEP.

Strategies for a Well Workplace

Each month, ACEP4U will highlight and expand on a specific pillar of ACEP’s new strategic plan. This month, we focus on the second strategic pillar—Career Fulfillment.

More than 100 ACEP members were involved in developing ACEP’s new strategic plan to guide the College for the next three to five years. Sue Nedza, MD, MBA, FACEP, was part of the planning group that developed the Career Fulfillment pillar of the plan.

“To be a caring health care professional or caring emergency physician, you need to be cared for,” said Dr. Nedza. “That’s really what career fulfillment is all about.”

The Career Fulfillment portion of the strategic plan features four key strategies to address your career frustrations and help you seek avenues for greater job satisfaction: