The Violence Against Women Act requires states to bear the cost of rape kit exams, but hospitals don’t always know that, or have the right people to work with victims. MsReads via 19thnews
reported last month in its analysis on policy and coverage gaps, based on a national claims database of people in large employer plans.
“I have dealt with a few situations where it did not get paid and then it was sent to collections. And that is very challenging to try to get that corrected,” said Sheaffer, who works with sexual assault nurse examiners and advocates at rape crisis centers across the state. SANEs, nurses who are trained to work with survivors of sexual assault, are usually the most qualified person to administer a rape kit in a hospital — and actually know how to navigate the billing process to keep survivors from getting charged.
Knecht said the unexpected bills, which she previously worked to address as early as 2005 while at the National Center for Victims of Crime, boil down to a training and policy issue within hospitals: when people in the billing department just don’t know what they should do, and hospitals haven’t made policies clear to staff.