AB 1402: Medical evidentiary examinations: reimbursement

Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services to establish medical forensic forms, instructions, and examination protocols for victims of child physical abuse or neglect based on the guidelines for those forms as they relate to sexual assault. Existing law requires the forms to have a place for notation of specified information, including, among other things, the performance of a physical examination for evidence of child physical abuse or neglect.

 

This bill would require victims of child physical abuse or neglect to have access to medical evidentiary examinations, free of charge, by Local Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART), Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) teams, or other qualified medical evidentiary examiners. The bill would require each county’s board of supervisors to authorize a designee to approve the SART, SAFE teams, or other qualified medical evidentiary examiners to receive reimbursement through the Office of Emergency Services for the performance of medical evidentiary examinations for victims of child physical abuse or neglect and to notify the office of this designation. The bill would require that the costs associated with these medical evidentiary exams be funded by the state, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, and would require the Office of Emergency Services to establish a 60-day reimbursement process within one year upon initial appropriation.