MRG was founded in 2013 by Dickon Kent, Henry Ivey, and Hillary Larkin, bringing together a combined 70 years of UX, cybersecurity, and clinical and forensic medical experience. The goal was to develop a tool that would connect treatment at the Emergency Department (ED) with the continuation of services at the Alameda County Family Justice Center (ACFJC). MRG’s first pilot program, Domestic Violence Report and Referral (DVRR), was successfully launched in 2014 in coordination with the ACFJC, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, and all of the major law enforcement agencies. DVRR is currently operative in seven hospitals in Alameda County with more than 1,000 users and continues to provide secure digitized mandatory reporting infrastructure.
DVRR provides customized web-based application services that bridge the gaps in data management and communication amongst agencies managing domestic violence cases. This is achieved by delivering digitized forms for the electronic reporting of domestic violence, sexual assault and other mandated reports of violent crimes. MRG then manages HIPAA compliant storage and electronic distribution of health and forensic medical records enabling seamless collaboration between the victim, health care providers (HCPs), law enforcement and support services. With DVRR, DV victims are further protected by MRG’s ability to provide targeted identification during the medical exam of individuals at high risk of becoming future homicide victims. The digital form enables real time scoring using the Jackie Campbell Danger Assessment and ensures those at the highest risk have immediate access to additional services and care.
Since 2015, the number of DV mandatory reports submitted to law enforcement have quadrupled due to the increased awareness and ease of filing provided by DVRR. In addition, DVRR improved the number of patients receiving support services from 4% to 48%. DVRR provides benefits to other constituents as well. The improved reporting has the added benefit for the hospital and caregiver of ensuring legal compliance with mandatory reporting laws. In addition, DVRR has proven invaluable to prosecutors in the Alameda County District Attorney’s office with the office reporting an increased rate of felony charging since its launch. Prosecutors found the photographs included in the reports as well as the timeliness of the reports to be indispensable and supported their ability to charge assailants more expeditiously.
In 2017, MRG partnered with the California Clinical Forensic Medical Training Center (CCFMTC) to develop an electronic reporting system for the state of California. Funded by the California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), the system is now available statewide to all examiners as a recommended method of completing sexual assault forensic examinations. The Sexual Assault e923 continues to facilitate thousands of forensic examinations each year, with ongoing maintenance and support for the system provided by MRG. Implemented across varied hospital and non hospital-based forensic exam teams across California, MRG continues to address multi-agency requirements from healthcare, law enforcement, district attorney, and crime lab stakeholders. Recently, MRG has continued to build on its expertise in data science, producing in-depth analysis and driving quality improvement initiatives through cutting edge statistical and data visualization tools and methods. Designed by clinicians, social services, and forensic examiners, our tools enable automated reporting, dashboarding, and analysis in a secure sandbox environment. MRG has also led ad-hoc projects on behalf of its partners focused on patterns of injury, outcome evaluation, financial analysis, and process improvement metrics.
