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More than 1,000 executive leaders from the nation’s top hospitals and health systems convened at the 2023 AHA Annual Membership Meeting, April 23-25 in Washington, D.C.

Mary Beth Kingston, chief nursing officer for Advocate Health and an AHA trustee, moderated a discussion with Reps. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., and Larry Bucshon, M.D., R-Ind., about their co-sponsorship of the Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees Act, which would make assaulting a health care worker a federal crime, similar to federal protections for airline workers.  
 
“This is not a partisan issue,” Dean said. “This is a critically important issue; it has nothing to do with politics.” 
 
Bucshon, a physician by training, agreed. “This is about health care workers. I think it’s easy to find bipartisan solutions on issues that are important to the American people.” 
 
The SAVE Act has another advantage, Dean says. “This is not some dense piece of legislation. It is concise and clear and to the point.” 

For more on the 2023 AHA Annual Meeting, read AHA's coverage.