WHAT:
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, chaired by Rep. Gregg Harper (R-MS), held a hearing today examining the availability of Sexual Assault Forensic Exams (“SAFE kits") and sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs) at hospitals across the country.
WHY:
“Sexual Assault is a vicious and deeply traumatizing crime inflicted against hundreds of thousands of Americans each year. As policymakers, it is our responsibility to do everything we can to help those survivors and hold the perpetrators of those crimes accountable. To accomplish that, we must improve and expand access to critical forensic and healthcare services that survivors seek after an assault," said #SubOversight Chairman Harper.
“Over the past year, the committee has been investigating access to SANEs and SAFE kits at hospitals across the United States. Throughout our investigation, we’ve spoken to more than 40 trauma-level 1 and 2 hospitals. Some of these hospitals have robust SANE programs that are well equipped to provide the best care to survivors of sexual assault - including one of our witnesses today, Mount Sinai Health System. Others seemed ill-prepared to address the needs of sexual assault survivors. One hospital even asked a member of my staff, ‘What is a rape kit?’" said Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR).
WHO:
* A. Nicole Clowers, Managing Director, Health Care, U.S. Government Accountability Office (Opening Statement )
* Sara Jennings, RN, President-elect, International Association of Forensic Nurses (Opening Statement )
* Lynn M. Frederick Hawley, MA, Executive Director, SAVI Program, Mount Sinai Hospital (Opening Statement )
* Kiersten Stewart, Director of Public Policy and the Washington Office, Futures Without Violence (Opening Statement )
KEY MOMENTS:
Ms. Clowers discussed the importance of trained examiners and the potential impact when examiners are not available. She stated, “An estimated 323,450 individuals age 12 or older were victims of rape or other sexual assault in 2016, according to the most recently available data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. When victims of sexual assault receive a medical forensic examination, the exam may be provided by either a trained sexual assault forensic examiner-that is, a medical provider who has received specialized training in properly collecting and preserving forensic evidence-or a medical provider who has not received such specialized training. Studies have shown that exams performed by trained sexual assault forensic examiners may result in shortened exam time, higher quality health care delivered to victims, higher quality forensic evidence collection, as well as better collaboration with the legal system and higher prosecution rates. However, concerns have been raised about the availability of examiners to meet victims’ needs for exams."
Chairman Walden asked Ms. Jennings about the applications of telemedicine for treating survivors of sexual assault.
He asked, “Ms. Jennings, you noted in your testimony that telemedicine can be used to improve care for patients in rural and low volume communities, and I certainly know that. As a point of reference my district is bigger than almost any state east of the Mississippi, so it’s an enormous territory, very rural. Would you tell us a little more about telemedicine, and how it can be used to expand access to these types of services. And what are some of the challenges you see facing telemedicine to treat survivors of sexual assault?"
Ms. Jennings responded, “Telemedicine is for sure an answer to some of the more rural communities that don’t have access to forensic nursing care. They could have to travel, as we mentioned before, as many as three to seven hours to have a trained provider. Telemedicine would allow a nurse, or another provider in the ED setting, to care for that patient via telemedicine with another trained provider on the opposite end, walking them through the evidence collection process, walking them through injury identification, walking them through any prophylactics medication that the patient may need at time of discharge. And then go through discharge planning, whether it be follow up with a rape crisis advocate, or whomever, the person on the other end would be able to elaborate on those services and care via telemedicine."
RESOURCES:
The Majority Memorandum, witness testimony, and an archived webcast are available online HERE.
