SAVE Act

The SAVE Act creates new federal criminal penalties for assaulting hospital personnel and requires a government study on its impact. Sec. 2, Prevention of violence against hospital personnel: This section adds a new federal crime for knowingly assaulting a hospital employee or contractor during their duties, if the assault interferes with their work. Penalties include fines and up to 10 years in prison. Enhanced penalties of up to 20 years apply if a deadly weapon is used, serious bodily injury occurs, or the act happens during a declared public emergency. A defense is available for people with physical, mental, or intellectual disabilities if the conduct was a clear and direct manifestation of that disability. The section defines 'hospital' to include various medical facilities such as general hospitals, long-term care hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, children's hospitals, cancer hospitals, critical access hospitals, and rural emergency hospitals. 'Declaration of a public emergency' means a major disaster declared by the President under the Stafford Act. Sec. 3, GAO study: The Comptroller General must study how this Act has affected workplace violence in healthcare settings and whether federal, state, and local prosecutions for such violence have changed due to the new ability to prosecute these incidents federally.