Photo: Circlephoto/Shutterstock.com

The Brooklyn Hospital Center has agreed to settle allegations that it illegally billed sexual assault victims for forensic rape examinations, the New York Attorney General's Office announced Tuesday.

As part of the agreement, the hospital will make full restitution, plus interest, to the victims and pay the state $15,000 in costs. It also will provide educational training to employees and periodic compliance reports to the AG's office.

An investigation revealed that between January 2015 and February 2017, Brooklyn Hospital conducted 86 rape exams, and in 85 of those, either improperly billed the patient directly or billed the patient's insurer without notifying him or her of payment options, New York AG Eric Schneiderman said in a statement.

Under the federal Violence Against Women Act of 1994, as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, states or local governments must pay the full cost of sexual assault examinations as a condition of eligibility for a federal grant program funding many violence against women law-enforcement and criminal justice programs, according to LegalMomentum.org, the Women's Legal Defense and Education Fund based in New York.

New York law requires that when hospitals conduct forensic rape exams, they must do so free of charge to the patient and bill the state Office of Victim Services directly or the patient's insurer, depending on the patient's choice. As part of the settlement, Brooklyn Hospital also must agree to not charge patients for rape kits and inform them of their billing options.

A national study in 2014 carried out by the Urban Institute, George Mason University and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center found that sometimes hospitals mistakenly billed for the services.

Schneiderman said his office began the investigation after receiving a complaint that Brooklyn Hospital billed a sexual assault survivor seven separate times for a rape kit conducted in the hospital's emergency room. The AG's office has sent letters to 10 other hospitals asking for information about their rape-kit billing practices, he added.

“It's hard to imagine the heartache and anxiety a survivor must feel having to fight a collection agency over an unlawful bill for a rape kit. It's unacceptable, and we will not allow it to continue,” Schneiderman said in the statement. “I want to be clear: survivors of sexual assault are entitled to cost-free emergency care under New York law—and we will do everything possible to ensure they get the respect and care they deserve.”

A spokeswoman for Brooklyn Hospital said the incidents were due to “an inadvertent breakdown” in the billing processes related to sexual assault victims, which the hospital “deeply regrets.”

“Working closely and transparently with the Attorney General's Office, the hospital designed interdisciplinary processes and protocols to ensure that these billing issues do not occur again and to reflect not only our compliance with the law, but also our longstanding commitment to victims of sexual assault,” according to a hospital statement.

Photo: Circlephoto/Shutterstock.com

The Brooklyn Hospital Center has agreed to settle allegations that it illegally billed sexual assault victims for forensic rape examinations, the New York Attorney General's Office announced Tuesday.

As part of the agreement, the hospital will make full restitution, plus interest, to the victims and pay the state $15,000 in costs. It also will provide educational training to employees and periodic compliance reports to the AG's office.

An investigation revealed that between January 2015 and February 2017, Brooklyn Hospital conducted 86 rape exams, and in 85 of those, either improperly billed the patient directly or billed the patient's insurer without notifying him or her of payment options, New York AG Eric Schneiderman said in a statement.

Under the federal Violence Against Women Act of 1994, as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, states or local governments must pay the full cost of sexual assault examinations as a condition of eligibility for a federal grant program funding many violence against women law-enforcement and criminal justice programs, according to LegalMomentum.org, the Women's Legal Defense and Education Fund based in New York.

New York law requires that when hospitals conduct forensic rape exams, they must do so free of charge to the patient and bill the state Office of Victim Services directly or the patient's insurer, depending on the patient's choice. As part of the settlement, Brooklyn Hospital also must agree to not charge patients for rape kits and inform them of their billing options.

A national study in 2014 carried out by the Urban Institute, George Mason University and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center found that sometimes hospitals mistakenly billed for the services.

Schneiderman said his office began the investigation after receiving a complaint that Brooklyn Hospital billed a sexual assault survivor seven separate times for a rape kit conducted in the hospital's emergency room. The AG's office has sent letters to 10 other hospitals asking for information about their rape-kit billing practices, he added.

“It's hard to imagine the heartache and anxiety a survivor must feel having to fight a collection agency over an unlawful bill for a rape kit. It's unacceptable, and we will not allow it to continue,” Schneiderman said in the statement. “I want to be clear: survivors of sexual assault are entitled to cost-free emergency care under New York law—and we will do everything possible to ensure they get the respect and care they deserve.”

A spokeswoman for Brooklyn Hospital said the incidents were due to “an inadvertent breakdown” in the billing processes related to sexual assault victims, which the hospital “deeply regrets.”

“Working closely and transparently with the Attorney General's Office, the hospital designed interdisciplinary processes and protocols to ensure that these billing issues do not occur again and to reflect not only our compliance with the law, but also our longstanding commitment to victims of sexual assault,” according to a hospital statement.