Workplace Violence Prevention: What Oregon Home Health and Hospice Providers Need to Know
by Jamie Daugherty, Executive Director

A clinician arrives for a visit and encounters a threatening family member. A patient’s behavior escalates unexpectedly. An employee needs help in an area without reliable cell service.

For home health and hospice providers, workplace safety must account for what happens beyond the office—and give employees clear guidance before they walk through a patient’s door.

Oregon’s Senate Bill 537 expanded workplace violence prevention requirements to home health agencies and home hospice programs. Related Oregon Health Authority personnel safety and flagging requirements became operative May 1, 2026. Providers should already have these processes in place.

Start with what employees need to know before a visit.

Oregon’s rules require intake processes that identify safety concerns, including threatening behavior, pets, pest infestations, and whether weapons can be securely stored before visits. Agencies must also establish a plan to obtain any known patient history of violence within the preceding 12 months when receiving a hospital referral, and share collected safety information with assigned personnel.

A useful leadership question: If intake learns something important today, how will tomorrow’s visiting employee receive that information?

Make safety alerts actionable.

Home health and hospice providers must implement both electronic health record and visual flagging systems. Written procedures must explain when flags are initiated, continued, inactivated, or reactivated—and identify the actions personnel should take.

Flags should communicate specific safety information respectfully. An EHR flag alone cannot determine whether a patient receives otherwise eligible care. EHR flags must also be reviewed at least every 12 months and updated as needed.

Give staff a workable way to get help.

The rules require mechanisms for safety checks and policies allowing personnel to chart outside the care setting and have an escort when safety concerns exist.

For rural providers, test how those arrangements work when cell coverage fails or help is far away. Staff should understand whom to contact, what happens after a missed check-in, and how leadership will respond to an unsafe situation.

Keep the review requirements straight.

OAR 333-027-0115 and OAR 333-035-0165 require quarterly safety assessments with personnel assigned to provide home health or hospice services. Annual personnel safety training is also required.

The quarterly requirement is specifically a safety assessment. A practical approach is to document staff input, identified risks, and follow-up actions, then use the safety committee to help address patterns. Oregon law separately requires consultation with the workplace safety committee on the prevention program.

Make prevention part of everyday leadership.

At your next leadership meeting, walk through one realistic scenario—from the first reported concern through the next scheduled visit. Confirm who documents the risk, alerts staff, arranges precautions, and follows up.

Employees need confidence that raising a safety concern will lead to a timely, practical response. That confidence helps us protect our teams while continuing to serve patients with dignity.