Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services launches telehealth system for Sexual Assault Forensic Exams

MISSOURI(KBSI) – Missouri becomes the first state to mandate forensic sexual assault exams to be available at every hospital in the state.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) Office on Women’s Health launched the Sexual Assault Forensic Exams via Telehealth Network (SAFEvT) on July 1, 2025. The SAFEvT Network provides telehealth support to hospitals that do not have forensic nurses available 24/7. 

Through this system hospitals that don’t have a forensic nurse can connect directly to a nurse through the system ran through a tablet.

According to DHSS previously hospitals without a forensic nurse were sending sexual assault victims up to 4 hours away to receive an exam in some instances.

This greatly impacted the number of exams being done. Through the system the state hopes to see more people prosecuted.

With more exams being done and in a quicker time frame the department hopes to lower the amount of sexual assault cases in Missouri.

The program called SafevT network provides telehealth support to hospitals that do not have forensic nurses available 24/7.

It is organized in a hub-and-spoke model with multiple contracted hub sites providing around-the-clock support to their assigned satellite hospitals. Sarah Ehrhard Reid is the DHSS chief of women’s health; she shares that this program will allow for victims to receive care immediately.

“For childcare or a final exam, the next day, you may not be making that four-hour drive. Plus, the four-hour exam. That’s about how long they take on average. And then another four-hour drive home, right. That 12-hour commitment is not something that folks always have the ability to do, even if they want to. And so, what that means is that sometimes cases, of sexual assault are not being able to be prosecuted, fully because they didn’t have the evidence collected” says Reid.

This comes as part of the Justice for Survivor’s Act passed in 2020.

According to Reid many sexual assault survivors faced many barriers making prosecuting sexual assault cases harder, this network will aide to remove those barriers.    

“So even if you went to the police, if you didn’t have that evidence collected, it’s a lot harder to prosecute that case. Overall goal, of the program is to make sure that when survivors present to the hospital for an exam, that they’re able to get care at that point, and at that place without having to transfer” says Reid.

The program is currently available and being implemented into Missouri hospitals and by January 1 2026 every hospital in Missouri will be equipped in giving forensic sexual assault exams.  

For more information on exams and locations:

    Sexual Violence Services | Women’s Health | Health & Senior Services