85R11500 LED-F
By: Thompson of Harris H.B. No. 3152
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the care and transportation provided to a sexual
assault survivor by a health care facility.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 323.001, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subdivision (3-a) to read as follows:
(3-a) "SAFE-ready facility" means a health care
facility designated as a sexual assault forensic exam-ready
facility under Section 323.0015.
SECTION 2. Chapter 323, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Section 323.0015 to read as follows:
Sec. 323.0015. SAFE-READY FACILITIES. The department shall
designate a health care facility as a sexual assault forensic
exam-ready facility, or SAFE-ready facility, if the facility
employs or contracts with a certified sexual assault nurse examiner
or specially trained physician to be available to perform a
forensic medical examination on a sexual assault survivor 24 hours
a day, seven days a week.
SECTION 3. Section 323.004, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (a-1) and (a-2) and adding
Subsection (a-3) to read as follows:
(a-1) A facility that is not a SAFE-ready [health care]
facility [designated in a community-wide plan as the primary health
care facility in the community for treating sexual assault
survivors] shall inform the sexual assault survivor that:
(1) the facility is not a SAFE-ready [the designated]
facility and provide to the survivor the name and location of the
closest SAFE-ready [designated] facility; and
(2) the survivor is entitled, at the survivor's
option:
(A) to receive the care described by Subsection
(b) at that facility, subject to Subsection (b-1); or
(B) to be stabilized and to be transferred to and
receive the care described by Subsection (b) at a SAFE-ready
[health care] facility [designated in a community-wide plan as the
primary health care facility in the community for treating sexual
assault survivors].
(a-2) If a sexual assault survivor chooses to be transferred
under Subsection (a-1)(2)(B), after obtaining the survivor's
written, signed consent to the transfer, the facility shall
stabilize and transfer the survivor to a SAFE-ready [health care]
facility [in the community designated in a community-wide plan as
the primary health care facility in the community for treating
sexual assault survivors], which shall provide care to the survivor
in accordance with Subsection (b).
(a-3) A health care facility that is not a SAFE-ready
facility shall develop and submit to the department a
transportation plan for a sexual assault survivor who chooses to be
transferred to a SAFE-ready facility under Subsection (a-1)(2)(B).
The transportation plan must include procedures for:
(1) transporting the survivor, including a survivor
with a disability, to a SAFE-ready facility regardless of the
survivor's ability to pay;
(2) maintaining survivor confidentiality;
(3) returning the survivor to the survivor's residence
or a safe place agreed to by the survivor after the forensic medical
examination;
(4) obtaining confirmation before the survivor is
transferred that the SAFE-ready facility is able to provide a
forensic medical examination to the survivor;
(5) providing the name of a liaison at the receiving
SAFE-ready facility who will be available to the survivor should
the survivor seek help;
(6) minimizing the survivor's travel and waiting
times; and
(7) to the extent possible, minimizing additional
trauma to the survivor.
SECTION 4. Section 323.0045(c), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) Each health care facility that has an emergency
department and that is not a SAFE-ready [health care] facility
[designated in a community-wide plan as the primary health care
facility in the community for treating sexual assault survivors]
shall develop a plan to train personnel on sexual assault forensic
evidence collection.
SECTION 5. Section 323.008, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 323.008. DATA PUBLICATION. The department shall post
on the department's Internet website a list of all hospitals that
are designated as SAFE-ready facilities [in a community-wide plan
as the primary health care facility in the community for treating
sexual assault survivors]. The department shall update the list
annually.
SECTION 6. Section 323.001(1), Health and Safety Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.