Grasse Introduces Measure to Ensure In-Home Caregivers Receive Safety Protections Equal to Other Healthcare Providers

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – State Rep. Nicolle Grasse, D-Arlington Heights, has introduced legislation to ensure home health and hospice workers receive the same safety protections already afforded to healthcare providers in hospitals and other facilities, protecting at-home caregivers and their families from threats, intimidation or violence related to their work.

“Caregivers are providing vital services in people’s homes every day, often alone and without the protections available in medical facilities,” Grasse said. “I’m going to fight to make sure they have the same legal safeguards as any other healthcare worker. No one should be put at risk simply for showing up to care for someone in need.”

Grasse filed the Health Care at Home Workforce Protection Act, or House Bill 4600, which creates a specific charge for threatening home-based healthcare providers, as well as their families and friends, with violence. The legislation is designed to bring home health and hospice workers into alignment with existing protections for facility-based providers and to act proactively against a growing national trend of violence toward caregivers.

A recent analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows in-home care providers face a significantly higher risk of violence than other healthcare workers due to isolation and limited control over their work environments.

“Illinois is already facing a shortage of care providers, and safety concerns are a major reason why,” Grasse said. “If caregivers don’t feel safe, they leave the profession and patients suffer. This law helps prevent violence before it happens and ensures home-based workers are protected just like their colleagues in hospitals and clinics.”