Section 1. Section 26B-2-244 is enacted to read:26B-2-244. Workplace violence incident reporting in hospitals.(1)As used in this section:(a) "Hospital" means:(i)a general acute hospital, as that term is defined in Section 26B-2-201; or(ii)a specialty hospital, as that term is defined in Section 26B-2-201.(b)"Workplace violence" means the same as that term is defined in Section 78B-7-1101.(2)On or before November 1, 2026, a hospital shall:(a)establish a workplace violence incident reporting system;(b)record all reported incidents of workplace violence as voluntarily reported by an employee;(c)adopt a policy that prohibits discrimination or retaliation against an employee for reporting or participating in an investigation;(d)analyze collected data;(e)maintain the record of reported workplace violence incidents for at least two years; and(f)report data collected to the chief medical officer and the chief nursing officer on a quarterly basis.(3)A workplace violence incident reporting system shall:(a)collect information regarding a workplace violence incident, including:(i)the date and time of the incident;(ii)a description of the incident;(iii)the job category of the victim employees;(iv)whether the perpetrator was a patient, visitor, or employee; and(v)the immediate response to the incident;(b)be clearly communicated to all employees, including new employees at orientation;(c)include guidelines on when and how to report incidents of workplace violence to an employer, security agencies, and appropriate law enforcement authorities; and(d)be used to make improvements in preventing workplace violence, including improvements achieved through continuing education in targeted areas, de-escalation training, risk identification, and violence prevention planning.(4)A hospital shall report the number of workplace violence incidents annually to the department.