Payment for Costs of Forensic Examinations

Details

Type: Procedural Rule
Agency: Prosecuting Attorneys Institute
CSR Number: none supplied
Effective Date: November 1, 2009

Summary

The Prosecuting Attorneys Institute (hereinafter the “Institute”) has one set of procedural rules, 168CSR1. This set of rules relates to the procedure for the reimbursement to licensed medical facilities of basic costs associated with the forensic examination of victims of sexual offenses and they are derivative of WV Code §61-8B-16, “Payment for costs of Forensic Examination”.
The Statutes, among other things, provides that payment from the fund shall cover all reasonable and customary costs of a forensic examination [§61-8B-16 (a)(1)] and that neither victims, or their insurance, will be billed for the forensic examination [§61-8B-16 (b)].
Although the WVPAI’s rule, 168CSR1, includes language that mirrors these two statutory provisions the remainder of the rule merely sets out the procedure for reimbursement and the duties of the various parties impacted by the statute and the rule such as licensed medical facilities, the Institute, law enforcement etc..

Reference to Forensic Medical Examination Payments in the Federal Code of Regulations and the United States Code.

42 U.S. Code §3796gg requires states, among others, who wish to be eligible to apply for and receive certain federal grant funds to arrange for victims to receive forensic medical examination free of charge. Echoing this requirement, 28 CFR- §90.13 (b) defines this by use of the phrase “full out of pocket costs” as “any expense that may be charged to a victim in connection with a forensic medical examination for the purpose of gathering evidence of a sexual assault” and requires a participating state to absorb these costs.

Summary

The forgoing two references are the only identifiable federal references which relate specifically to forensic medical examinations and, as can be seen comparison of the federal rule to the state rule reveals that the state rule is not more restrictive than its federal counterpart with respect to the only commonality that they share which is the requirement that victims of sexual offenses will not bear any financial burden related to forensic medical examinations they receive.

Submitter Details

Name: Jennelle H. Jones
Email: jennelle.h.jones@wv.gov
Phone: 304-558-4331

Uploaded Files

No files uploaded.