Statement on the Introduction of the Save Healthcare Workers Act

By Soumi Saha, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, Premier Inc.

The fact that over 40 percent of healthcare workers have experienced violence on the job is not only unacceptable – it is fueling the healthcare workforce shortage crisis. To recruit and retain the clinicians we urgently need, their safety must be a national priority. Premier applauds Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) and Angus King (I-ME) and Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) for their bipartisan commitment to ensuring the safety of frontline healthcare professionals. The Save Healthcare Workers Act (S. 1600/H.R. 3178) is commonsense legislation that is critical to protecting the heartbeat of healthcare – its employees – by making it a federal crime to knowingly assault healthcare workers on hospital grounds.