To amend section 3727.08; to amend, for the purpose of adopting a new section number as indicated in parentheses, section 3727.08 (3722.15); and to enact sections 3701.0413, 3702.20, and 5119.335 of the Revised Code to require the Director of Health, hospitals, and urgent care facilities to create domestic violence protocols for certain health care professionals and to name this act the Break the Silence Act.
HB566, titled the Break the Silence Act, would require the Ohio Director of Health to develop statewide domestic violence response protocols for certain health care professionals, including physicians, physician assistants, advanced practice nurses, certified mental health assistants, and staff who perform initial patient assessments in hospitals and urgent care facilities. The protocols must address how to identify possible domestic violence victims during medical screening, conduct patient and separate family-member interviews, document injuries or illnesses in medical records, and provide referral information for shelters, hotlines, legal services, counseling, and restraining-order resources.
The bill also requires the Department of Health, or a contracted organization, to offer domestic violence recognition and response training within one year after the law takes effect, and to make that training available statewide to hospital and urgent care staff. In developing the protocols, the director must incorporate guidance from professional and accreditation organizations, and may adopt rules on how often training must be repeated.
HB566 would add new sections to the Revised Code and amend existing hospital law to impose domestic violence protocol requirements on hospitals, urgent care facilities, and certain hospitals licensed to receive persons with mental illnesses. It would create a new statewide framework for screening, interviewing, documentation, and referral practices, while allowing facilities to use Department of Health protocols to satisfy their own obligations. The bill would also rename the act the Break the Silence Act and repeal the existing version of section 3727.08 as part of the statutory reorganization.
The bill appears to be framed as a patient-safety and victim-support measure, with its emphasis on screening, documentation, and referral suggesting a generally protective and public-health-oriented purpose. Because the bill was introduced and referred to the House Health Committee with no recorded votes or committee testimony in the provided materials, there is no documented formal support or opposition in the record supplied. The overall tone of the legislation itself is proactive and implementation-focused rather than controversial.
The main potential points of contention are operational rather than ideological: hospitals and urgent care facilities would need to adopt new protocols within 90 days, and the Department of Health would need to develop and disseminate training statewide. Facilities may also have questions about staffing, training frequency, documentation burdens, and how to handle interviews involving family or household members present. Another possible issue is the bill’s broad definition of covered health care professionals and its reliance on future administrative rules and external professional guidelines to flesh out implementation details.