Health Report Card 2001

Introduction and Methodology

The Family Violence Prevention Fund’s (FVPF’s) 2001 State-By-State Legislative Report Card on Health Care Laws and Domestic Violence is the second annual at-a-glance evaluation of state activity in passing laws and developing other policies to improve the health care response to domestic violence.

This issue is critically important, because health care providers are often in the best position to help victims of abuse and their children, if they are trained to screen for domestic violence, to recognize signs of abuse, and to intervene effectively. States can take action that will dramatically improve the ability of doctors, nurses and other health care providers to help victims of domestic violence. But no state has done nearly all that it can in this area, and just a few states took any meaningful action in the last year.

The Report Card grades each state based on whether it has enacted effective laws to improve the health care response to domestic violence as of June 30, 2001. Researchers examined five critical areas – training, screening, protocols, reporting and insurance – in order to promote better and more comprehensive responses from lawmakers in all the states.

States and communities deal with health care and domestic violence policy in a variety of ways, from issuing regulations to funding pilot projects in hospitals to changing laws. The Report Card primarily examines legislation. Each state domestic violence coalition was also invited to submit other relevant policies and policy-related initiatives for consideration. This could include: adopting rules, implementing funding projects, and creating special projects that advance the health care response to domestic violence. In this 2001 Report Card, the Family Violence Prevention Fund shines a spotlight on laws and other policy advances in the states.

The study documents an almost total lack of progress on domestic violence health care laws. Just two states – Florida and Maine – improved their grades significantly over last year. Maryland actually lapsed, falling from a grade of “B” in the year 2000 to a grade of “D+” this year. The rest of the state grades remained the same, marking a stunning lack of progress and a poor overall performance.

There is much more that state policy makers can and should do to improve the health care response to domestic abuse. Most states have only just begun to enact laws in this area and progress has stalled nearly everywhere.

Policy is constantly evolving. This 2001 Report Card is designed to help advocates and policy makers assess their state laws and press for needed reform.

Methodology

From July of 2000 to July of 2001, the FVPF contacted advocates, state leaders and others about what laws have been enacted regarding domestic violence and health care. The FVPF sent questionnaires to every state and combed through state statutes to uncover what each state has done to improve its response to domestic violence in the health care settings. State domestic violence coalitions then reviewed the data, to ensure that the conclusions were accurate. From this, the FVPF derived both the Report Card and the state-by-state summary pages. Additionally, states also submitted brief summaries of other policy related activity.

Funding is crucial to evaluating a state’s response to health care and domestic violence. Funding is often committed on a year-to-year basis, comes from a variety of sources, and is sometimes not created through legislation. Information on available funding could not be collected but for these brief summaries, which offer some ideas on how to support projects and policies.

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