Relates to the identification of individuals who provide face-to-face care to or direct observation of a patient and information required to be submitted by…

Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.

• Republican2
• Democratic1

This bill has cosponsors from more than one party.

Shown in neutral colors by design; Agora is non-partisan.

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Christopher Ryan says this is needed

Hospitals are dangerous places to work. Hospital workers experience five times more workplace violence than the average American worker. An aver- age of two nurses an hour are physically assaulted at work in the United States. A 2024 survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians found that 9196- of respondents reported having been attacked or threat- ened in the past year. Besides immediate physical assaults on hospital staff, there is a grow- ing incidence of cyberattacks and doxing of health care providers. Inci- dents of online harassment are reported to have doubled since the COVID pandemic. Practitioners who provide vaccines, abortions and gender-af- firming care are most vulnerable; many have had their home addresses and the names of their spouses and children published online, placing them in danger from extremists. State law requires that all hospital staff must be identified by first and last name on their badges, subjecting them to online searches by aggrieved patients. This bill would allow hospital workers, who are on the front lines of patient care for people who are traumatized, intoxicated, stressed or undergoing a mental health break down, to keep their last names private when their personal safety may be in jeopardy. Vindictive patients should not be able to track down hospital staff online to harass or dox them.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.