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Title II — Standards of care

S. 402 · 116th Congress · Feb 7, 2019 · Lineage

II Standards of care

201. National Sexual Assault Care and Treatment Task Force

(a)
Establishment— The Secretary shall establish a task force to be known as the “SASCA Task Force” (referred to in this section as the “Task Force”) to identify barriers to improving access to SAFE/SANE and other forensic medical examiners.
(b)
Membership— The Task Force shall include a representative from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Indian Health Service, the Office for Victims of Crime of the Department of Justice, the Office on Women’s Health of the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Office on Violence Against Women of the Department of Justice, a survivor of sexual assault, and representatives from regional and national organizations with expertise in forensic nursing, rape trauma or crisis counseling, investigating rape and gender violence cases, survivors’ advocacy and support, sexual assault prevention education, rural health, and responding to sexual violence in Native communities.
(c)
Objectives— To assist and standardize State-level efforts to improve medical forensic evidence collection relating to sexual assault, the Task Force shall—
(1)
identify barriers to the recruitment, training, and retention of SAFEs, SARTs, SANEs, and others who perform such examinations;
(2)
make recommendations for improving access to medical forensic examinations, including the feasibility of, or barriers to, utilizing mobile units;
(3)
improve coordination of services, and other protocols regarding the care and treatment of sexual assault survivors and the preservation of evidence between law enforcement officials and health care providers; and
(4)
update national minimum standards for forensic medical examiner training and forensic medical evidence collection relating to sexual assault.
(d)
Transparency requirements—
(1)
In general— Not later than 1 year after first convening, the Task Force shall report to the Secretary in a public document on—
(A)
the recommendation for best practices with respect to improving medical forensic evidence collection relating to sexual assault; and
(B)
the national minimum standards for MFEs and treatments relating to sexual assault.
(2)
Report— Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the findings and conclusions of the Task Force.
(e)
Annual summit— The Secretary shall convene an annual stakeholder meeting to address gaps in health care provider care relating to sexual assault that includes the Task Force.

202. Institutions of higher education campus action plan

Each institution of higher education that receives Federal funds shall—
(1)
inform survivors of sexual assault about the availability of MFEs, including the nearest available locations at which such examinations are provided by a SANE and that Federal law requires such exams to be provided at no cost to the survivor; and
(2)
make the information described in paragraph (1) available on the website of the institution, to the extent practicable.

203. Expanding access to unified care

Part B of title VIII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296j et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“812. Demonstration grants for sexual assault examiner training programs

“(a) Establishment of program—The Secretary shall establish a demonstration program (referred to in this section as the “program”) to award grants to eligible partnered entities for the clinical training of SAFEs/SANEs (including registered nurses, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, clinical nurse specialists, physician assistants, and physicians) to administer medical forensic examinations and treatments to survivors of sexual assault.

“(b) Purpose—The purpose of the program is to enable each grant recipient to expand access to SAFE/SANE services by providing new providers with the clinical training necessary to establish and maintain competency in SAFE/SANE services and to test the provisions of such services at new facilities in expanded health care settings.

“(c) Grants—Under the program, the Secretary shall award 3-year grants to eligible entities that meet the requirements established by the Secretary.

“(d) Eligible entities—To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, an entity shall—

“(1) be—

“(A) a rural health care services provider or community-based service provider (as defined by the Secretary), a center or clinic under section 330, or a health center receiving assistance under title X, acting in partnership with a high-volume emergency services provider or a hospital currently providing sexual assault medical forensic examinations performed by SANEs or SAFEs, that will use grant funds to—

“(i) assign rural health care service providers to the high-volume hospitals for clinical practicum hours to qualify such providers as a SAFE/SANE; or

“(ii) assign practitioners at high-volume hospitals to a rural health care services providers to instruct, oversee, and approve clinical practicum hours in the community to be served; or

“(B) an organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under 501(a) of that Act, that provides legal training and technical assistance to tribal communities and to organizations and agencies serving Native people; and

“(2) submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require, including a description of whether the applicant will provide services under subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1).

“(e) Grant amount—Each grant awarded under this section shall be in an amount not to exceed $400,000 per year. A grant recipient may carry over funds from one fiscal year to the next without obtaining approval from the Secretary.

“(f) Authorization of appropriations

“(1) In general—There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $11,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2024.

“(2) Set-aside—Of the amount appropriated under this subsection for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall reserve 15 percent of such amount for purposes of making grants to entities that are affiliated with Indian tribes or tribal organizations (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)), or Urban Indian organizations (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1603)). Amounts reserved may be used to support referrals and the delivery of emergency first aid, culturally competent support, and forensic evidence collection training.”

204. Technical assistance grants and learning collectives

Part B of title VIII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296j et seq.), as amended by section 203, is further amended by adding at the end the following:

“812A. Technical assistance center and regional learning collectives

“(a) In general—The Secretary shall establish a State and provider technical resource center to provide technical assistance to health care providers to increase the quality of, and access to, MFEs by entering into contracts with national experts (such as the International Forensic Nurses Association and others).

“(b) Regional learning collectives—The Secretary shall convene State and hospital regional learning collectives to assist health care providers and States in sharing best practices, discussing practices, and improving the quality of, and access to, MFEs.

“(c) Repository—The Secretary shall establish and maintain a secure Internet-based data repository to serve as an online learning collective for State and entity collaborations. An entity receiving a grant under section 812 may use such repository for—

“(1) technical assistance; and

“(2) best practice sharing.”

205. Quality strategies

The Secretary shall identify SAFE/SANE access and quality in hospitals and other appropriate health care facilities as a national priority for improvement under section 399HH(a)(2) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280j(a)(2)).

206. Oversight

Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Office of the Inspector General shall issue a report concerning hospital compliance with section 1867 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395dd) and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291 et seq.) with respect to access to, and reimbursements for, sexual assault medical forensic examinations at the national, State, and individual hospital level. Such report shall address hospital awareness of reimbursements, total reimbursed costs, and any costs for survivors.