Stalking Awareness Month 2025: What Healthcare Leaders Should Be Watching

How Hospitals Must Respond to Escalating Safety Threats for Patients and Staff

Published: January 4, 2025

Stalking Awareness Month is not just a social observance—it is a leadership challenge for healthcare organizations. In 2025, threats to staff safety, patient privacy, and community wellbeing are rising across care settings. For hospital executives, this is a critical moment to reassess policies, training, and infrastructure that protect vulnerable populations from harassment, surveillance, and coercive control. With over 1 in 6 women and 1 in 17 men experiencing stalking in their lifetimes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, health systems must act decisively.

Clinical environments are uniquely susceptible to stalking-related incidents. Nurses, patient access staff, and providers often interact with emotionally volatile individuals and may become targets both on- and off-site. In a 2023 report from the American Nurses Association, 38% of frontline nurses reported at least one episode of persistent unwanted contact. At Mass General Brigham, a dedicated clinical threat response unit has been implemented to triage staff safety risks. Leadership must see workplace safety not only as an HR issue—but as a strategic imperative tied to retention, morale, and regulatory risk.

Stalking also presents a major patient safety concern. Behavioral health, domestic violence, and OB/GYN clinics frequently serve individuals fleeing abusive environments. If hospital visitor protocols, digital access, or EHR permissions are not carefully managed, stalkers can exploit system gaps. NYU Langone Health has adopted a flagging system that restricts access to patient location data and adds automatic alerts for high-risk cases. This is where CIOs and CMOs must collaborate on data protections aligned with safety protocols. Prevention is privacy with purpose.

Digital stalking adds a new layer of complexity. From patient portals to provider LinkedIn pages, digital footprints create vectors for harassment and doxxing. Executives should evaluate policies around social media use, employee visibility, and digital contact with patients. Kaiser Permanente has begun offering cybersecurity and digital safety training to clinical staff at high risk. In 2025, digital literacy is not optional. It is operational safety.

Legal and regulatory frameworks must also be revisited. The Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center (SPARC) provides model policies and toolkits for healthcare systems. These include guidance on restraining orders, workplace accommodations, and mandatory reporting processes. Executives must ensure compliance is up to date and translated into real-world support. Legal alignment must be matched with action—not just language.

Training and awareness programs offer frontline protection. At Sutter Health, mandatory annual violence prevention modules now include a stalking-specific component that helps staff identify red flags and escalation patterns. These trainings are paired with safety planning protocols. Hospital CMOs and HR directors should integrate stalking awareness into broader safety initiatives. Empowered staff are safer staff—and they protect patients better, too.

Community partnerships enhance response capacity. Hospitals do not face stalking risks in isolation. Coordinated protocols with local law enforcement, domestic violence shelters, and legal aid organizations can streamline intervention. At Northwell Health, an embedded victims services liaison now works directly with emergency departments. Executives must pursue these partnerships proactively. Preparedness builds confidence—and reduces harm.

Communication strategy also a major factor. In January, communications teams should reinforce hospital commitments to safety and outline available resources for both patients and employees. These messages must appear not only on bulletin boards—but across patient portals, staff newsletters, and leadership briefings. Transparency and repetition signal institutional resolve. That message builds a safer culture.

Stalking Awareness Month should ultimately serve as an executive audit point. What are your organization’s blind spots in employee protection? Where are patients vulnerable to recontact by abusers? Which teams lack training or support? CEOs must view these questions as governance-level responsibilities. Prevention is not passive—it’s strategic.

Internal Links

• Hospital Leadership in Crisis: What Every CEO Must Do in 2025
• The Healthcare Workforce Crisis: Executive Solutions That Actually Work

External Links

• Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center (SPARC)
• DOJ: Office on Violence Against Women – Stalking
• American Nurses Association: Workplace Safety

Discover More on Executive Leadership in Crisis Response

If your executive team is reviewing system-wide safety or preparing for a broader conversation about staff vulnerability and institutional accountability, explore our in-depth article on what hospital CEOs must do in 2025.