By Jeff Wardon, Jr., Assistant Editor

Violence and threats of violence against healthcare continue to escalate, prompting the American Hospital Association (AHA) to partner with the FBI to tackle these issues.

The AHA released a new resource and webpage focusing on dealing with targeted violence in healthcare facilities. Targeted violence in healthcare is defined as “intentional and harmful acts in which care teams, patients and healthcare facilities are specifically singled out.”

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Nonfatal violence in the healthcare and social assistance sectors is more widespread than any other industries, according to OSHA. A report from the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) found that 82 percent of healthcare organizations are at a high risk of an unsafe work environment.

Violence in healthcare facilities is becoming more commonplace. To help address this reality, the AHA worked with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit to promote violence prevention strategies and deal with growing risks of targeted violence against healthcare, according to the press release. The AHA will offer a full suite of resources for healthcare facilities and organizations to implement threat assessment and management principles through its partnership.

Jeff Wardon, Jr., is the assistant editor for the facilities market.