One of MCASA's top legislative priorities was signed into law on May 14, 2019: Senate Bill 657/House Bill 1249 ensures that survivors have meaningful access to medication to prevent HIV infection after a sexual assault.
Without this bill, the state paid for emergency medical treatment and forensic services for injuries related a sexual assault, but did not consider a complete course of HIV prevention medication part of the emergency treatment needed. Clinical guidance recommends that this medication be taken within 72 hours of the initial exposure, and consistently for 28 days.
MCASA thanks lead sponsors Senator Nancy King and Delegate Kirill Reznik for championing the bill, and our advocacy partners at the Maryland Hospital Association for their help in passing this legislation. We also salute the amazing Forensic Nurse Examiners who testified on the bill:
Laura Clary & Evelyn Kim of Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Sharon Rogers & Theresa Liberatori of University of Maryland Capital Region Health, and Debbie Holbrook of Mercy Medical Center, as well as Jessica Volz of Adventist Health Care Shady Grove Medical Center (not pictured), and Pam Holtzinger of Frederick Memorial Hospital (not pictured).
Read more about this bill and MCASA's Legislative Agenda here.
