Committee backs telehealth option for sexual‑assault forensic exams, sets standards for forensic‑nursing advisory council

Senator Perry introduced a bill to authorize telehealth‑assisted sexual‑assault forensic examinations (SANE/forensic nurse practice) and to create a Virginia Forensic Nursing Advisory Council to set education and training standards for forensic examiners.

The sponsor said the bill responds to a shortage of forensic nurses in many parts of the Commonwealth and would allow certified Virginia forensic nurses to provide telehealth supervision to local clinicians collecting physical evidence recovery kits (PERK kits). "These forensic nurses are the nurses who are specially trained to take care of those victims when they are brought to the hospital," Perry said.

Supporters, including the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association and the Department of Juvenile Justice, argued telehealth supervision would expand access to timely exams and preserve evidence for prosecutions. "A physical evidence recovery kit collected during a telehealth forensic examination shall not be determined to be inadmissible solely because the kit was collected during a telehealth examination," the substitute language states, with the amendment added that kits also must be otherwise admissible under the rules of evidence.

Committee members pressed on licensing and confrontation concerns — namely that telehealth consultants be licensed in Virginia and available for court testimony if cases go to trial. The sponsor and witnesses agreed to clarify that telehealth forensic examiners must meet Virginia standards and be subpoenaable; the committee adopted a house‑style amendment that preserved admissibility while noting standard evidentiary rules would still apply. The measure was reported out for further action.