RD316 - Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund 2011 Annual Report - July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2011


Executive Summary:
Fiscal year 2011 represented another busy year for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund. This year the Fund provided nearly $1.9 million dollars in compensation awards to crime victims and their families, in addition to paying just over $1.3 million dollars for forensic evidence collection in sexual assault cases. As in years past, CICF staff took steps to ensure that victims’ CICF awards were able to address as many compensable expenses as possible through continued efforts to negotiate bills with medical providers on behalf of claimants. On July 1, 2010, Senate Bill 88, sponsored by Senator Janet Howell, took effect, requiring health care providers to establish prospective negotiation agreements with CICF for payment of claims. Further, this law requires that health care providers accept payment from CICF as payment in full without billing the patient for any remaining balances. Both before the bill took effect and throughout the ensuing fiscal year, CICF staff worked extensively to educate medical providers throughout the Commonwealth about this legislative change and establish standing agreements with facilities, physicians, dentists, transport services, therapists, and countless other providers of crime-related medical treatment. This work continues into FY 2012.

FY 2011 saw a 4% increase in the number of new compensation claims filed, with a notable increase in the crime category of domestic assault (up 21% from the prior year, with 262 claims filed), as well as increases in the number claims filed for the crimes of homicide, arson, and breaking and entering. Fewer compensation claims were filed this fiscal year in the crime category of child sexual abuse (down 16% from FY 2010) as well as a slight decrease in the number of claims filed for adult victims of sexual assault. While fewer claims were filed this year involving non-fatal DWI cases, there was a 45% increase in the number of DWI-related fatality claims in 2011 (increasing from 11 in FY 2010 to 16 this year).

CICF’s involvement in a victim’s care does not stop after an initial award is made. Many victims of violent crime require longer term care for the physical and emotional injuries they sustain, and CICF assists Virginia’s victims of crime with these ongoing health needs. In FY 2011, in addition to issuing 961 initial compensation awards for victims’ crime-related expenses and 1426 SAFE awards, 266 compensation claims resulted in supplemental awards, which are issued when an eligible victim documents the need for additional benefits after the initial award has been entered. CICF continues to make supplemental awards for the duration of the claimant’s crime-related treatment, until such time as the claim has reached its statutorily designated maximum payout amount ($25,000 for crimes occurring after July 1, 2007; $15,000 for crimes occurring prior).

Professionals within the criminal justice system continue to be the Fund’s most significant source of referrals, with 71% of FY 2011’s claimants learning about CICF from their area Victim/Witness assistance program and 12% being referred to the Fund from their local police or sheriff’s department or commonwealth’s attorney’s office. Other victims learned about CICF from human service agencies, medical providers, probation offices, funeral homes or other sources. Continued collaboration and training with our criminal justice partners and other stakeholders is important to ensure that potentially eligible victims of crime are able to access the Fund. Fund staff is committed to increasing outreach to other allied professionals and the community at large about CICF. Enhanced training efforts in recent years as well as improvements to the program’s website have served to heighten the Fund’s visibility as staff work toward a vision of CICF’s instant recognition as a resource when an individual has been the victim of a crime.