Telemedicine for Assault Exams

Section two provides that this act shall take effect immediately, provided the pilot program shall begin within 120 days of enactment and the evaluation.

Justification

New York State has a comprehensive program to treat sexual assault victims in hospital emergency rooms with staff specially trained in providing the necessary care, examinations, and collection of forensic evidence. Unfortunately, establishing and running specialized sexual assault forensic examination (SAFE) programs is very expensive because of the highly specialized level of staff training, the high turnover of staff, the need to have such staff available 24/7 and the fact that the average time to treat a sexual assault victim and collect evidence is about four hours. It is estimated that a hospital will spending approxi- mately $80,000 annually to establish and operate a SAFE program.

Of the 170 hospitals in the state, only 42 currently have a SAFE program. Of these 42 SAFE programs, 27 are in or near New York City leaving 15 programs for the remainder of the state. Sexual assault victims who arrive at a hospital ER without a SAFE program may be trans- ported to a hospital with a SAFE program, which means extra costs and delayed care. More often, untrained health care providers do their best with limited resources to care for the patient and appropriately secure the forensic evidence. This means patients are not getting the best available care and nurses and other health care providers in emergency rooms are forced to carry out a treatment protocol they feel ill equipped to do. Worse, the forensic evidence and record that is collected and established is much more likely to be compromised, result-

ing in perpetrators not being brought to justice and left to repeat their heinous offenses.

The cost of having a SAFE program in each of the 128 facilities without a program is estimated to be about $10 million dollars. Given many small rural hospitals may not see a volume of sexual assault victims that warrants a full program, telemedicine provides a vehicle to get victims and health care providers access to the expertise of a SAFE program in real time. This legislation requires an evaluation and report on the effectiveness of the program and recommendations on how to make the program a self-sustaining one.

A SAFE telemedicine pilot program will strive to accomplish three impor- tant goals. First, the pilot will ensure that sexual assault victims will receive treatment supported by to specially trained health care staff in real time no matter which hospital they present to. Second, emergency room staff in facilities without a SAFE program who are not currently trained will have the supports they need to effectively care for victims and accurately collect and document forensic evidence. Third, providing hospitals with SAFE supports means evidence will be more accurately collected, preserved and documented which will result in more DNA matches, leading to higher prosecution rates and better crimi- nal case outcomes and fewer repeat offenders as the perpetrators who commit these heinous offenses will be taken off of the street.

Legislative history

New bill

Fiscal implications

With a small upfront investment the SAFE program can save the state millions of dollars while simultaneously providing expert health care to sexual assault victims and getting perpetrators off the streets.

Effective date

Immediately, provided the SAFE telemedicine pilot shall be established within 120 days of the effective date and the evaluation and report shall be delivered to the Governor and Legislature by December 1, 2020.