[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2748 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2748

 To authorize the formation of State and regional emergency telehealth 
 network testbeds and, within the Department of Defense, a telehealth 
                              task force.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 17, 2002

 Mr. Conrad (for himself and Mrs. Hutchison) introduced the following 
   bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize the formation of State and regional emergency telehealth 
 network testbeds and, within the Department of Defense, a telehealth 
                              task force.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Emergency Telemedical 
Communications Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are as follows:
            (1) To form a task force and create testing networks to 
        facilitate the development of a National Telemedical Network by 
        integrating the peer-to-peer, specialist-to-patient, or 
        disaster expert-to-scene real time interaction of telehealth, 
        information technology, and disease surveillance systems in 
        order to monitor, respond to, and manage the events of a 
        biological or chemical terrorist attack and other public health 
        emergencies.
            (2) To take advantage of the existing telehealth 
        infrastructure in the United States, and add surge capacity for 
        disasters and provide knowledge on demand to support community 
        readiness at a local level.
            (3) To expand integrated telehealth models that have 
        demonstrated progress in promoting disaster preparedness, 
        telemedicine, helicopter rescue, informatics, and public 
        health, and that have a record of teamwork among defense, 
        emergency management, public health, and law enforcement 
        agencies.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE AND REGIONAL TELEHEALTH NETWORKS.

    (a) Program Authorized.--
            (1) In General.--The Secretary of Defense (referred to in 
        this Act as the ``Secretary''), in consultation with the 
        Secretary of Health and Human Services shall carry out a pilot 
        program for the development of statewide and regional 
        telehealth network testbeds that securely link existing State 
        and local telehealth initiatives to each of the following:
                    (A) States within a regional consortium of States 
                in the Southeast Region of the United States as such 
                region is determined by the Secretary.
                    (B) States within a regional consortium of States 
                in the North Central Region of the United States as 
                such region is determined by the Secretary.
            (2) Contracts.--The Secretary shall enter into contracts to 
        carry out the program authorized under paragraph (1).
            (3) Duration.--The Secretary shall enter into contracts 
        under this section for a period not to exceed 3 years. Such 
        contracts may be renewed.
    (b) Statewide Networks.--A State awarded a contract under 
subsection (a) shall develop a statewide telehealth network that links 
established telehealth initiatives within the State to provide medical 
services in cooperation with and in support of--
            (1) the State health department;
            (2) local health departments;
            (3) public health clinics;
            (4) medical centers of the Department of Defense and the 
        Department of Veterans' Affairs;
            (5) community health clinics;
            (6) rural health clinics;
            (7) private clinics;
            (8) hospitals;
            (9) academic health centers;
            (10) offices of rural health;
            (11) home health care organizations;
            (12) Indian Health Service clinics;
            (13) veterinary clinics and hospitals;
            (14) agrimedicine centers; and
            (15) Federal agencies.
    (c) Functions of the Networks.--A statewide telehealth network 
established under this section shall test the feasibility of 
recommendations (including the guidelines, guidance, and blueprint) 
described in paragraphs (5) through (9) of section 4(b), and provide 
reports to the task force established under section 4, on such 
network's ability, in preparation of and in response to a biological 
terrorist attack and related medical disasters, to support each of the 
following functions:
            (1) Rapid emergency response.
            (2) Real-time data collection for information 
        dissemination.
            (3) Epidemiological surveillance.
            (4) Situationally relevant expert consultative services.
            (5) Training of responders.
            (6) Development of an advanced distributive learning 
        network.
            (7) Distance learning for the purposes of medical and 
        clinical education, and simulation scenarios for on-going 
        training.
    (d) Requirements.--In entering into contracts under subsection (a), 
the Secretary shall--
            (1) require that each statewide telehealth network be 
        standardized in order to connect existing telehealth activities 
        within the State as well as make connections to other statewide 
        telehealth networks to form interoperable regional telehealth 
        networks;
            (2) encourage States to establish at the local level 
        interoperable and overlapping information and operational 
        capability response grids;
            (3) require that each statewide network adopt common 
        administrative, physical, and technical approaches to 
        protecting the network's confidentiality, integrity, and 
        availability following guidelines developed by the task force 
        established under section 4 and approved by the Secretary; and
            (4) require that each statewide network inventory and 
        report to the task force established under section 4, the 
        technology and technical infrastructure available to such 
        network and any changes to such technology and technical 
        infrastructure.
    (e) Recommendations Relating to Standards.--In order to achieve 
national telehealth network interoperability, the statewide and 
regional networks shall test and provide feedback on recommendations 
relating to the standard clinical information, operational capability 
and associated technology and information standards created or 
recognized by the task force established under section 4.
    (f) Testing.--The task force established under section 4 shall work 
with the States to test the statewide and regional telehealth networks 
for such networks' ability to provide support for the existing and 
planned efforts of State and local law enforcement, fire departments, 
health facilities, and Federal and State health agencies, to respond 
rapidly in times of crisis in each of the following areas:
            (1) Prevention and surveillance.
            (2) Early detection.
            (3) Crisis responses.
            (4) Treatment.
    (g) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act and annually thereafter during the period in which contracts 
are awarded under this section, the Secretary shall prepare and submit 
to the appropriate committees of Congress a report--
            (1) describing the progress made in implementing the 
        statewide and regional telehealth networks; and
            (2) specifying the extent to which recommendations made by 
        the task force established under section 4 contributed to the 
        implementation of the statewide and regional telehealth 
        networks.

SEC. 4. TELEHEALTH TASK FORCE.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall establish a task force to 
be known as the ``National Emergency Telehealth Network Task Force'' 
(referred to in this section as the ``Task Force'') to inventory and 
improve telehealth networks.
    (b) Functions.--The Task Force shall--
            (1) conduct an inventory of existing telehealth 
        initiatives, including--
                    (A) the specific location of network components;
                    (B) the medical, technological, and communications 
                capabilities of such components; and
                    (C) the functionality of such components;
            (2) recommend to the Secretary acceptable standard clinical 
        information that could be uniformly applied and available 
        throughout the National Telemedical Network;
            (3) make recommendations for use by the Secretary in 
        establishing regional interoperating and overlapping 
        information and operational capability response grids in order 
        to achieve coordinated capabilities based responses among 
        local, county, State, military, Department of Veterans' 
        Affairs, and other Federal responders;
            (4) recommend any changes necessary to integrate technology 
        and clinical practices;
            (5) test the regional telehealth networks for the ability 
        described in section 3(f) and, if the regional telehealth 
        networks lack that ability, recommend to the Secretary ways to 
        improve these networks;
            (6) study recommendations made during the telehealth 
        networking project described in section 3;
            (7) research, develop, test, and evaluate administrative, 
        physical, and technical guidelines for protecting the 
        confidentiality, integrity, and availability of statewide 
        networks and all associated information;
            (8) provide overall guidance for the formation of a 
        National Telemedical Network for the earliest identification 
        of, and response to, a physical, chemical, radiological, or 
        biological threat to or attack on the United States, as well as 
        natural disasters;
            (9) create a telehealth blueprint that makes 
        recommendations for the interconnecting and interoperability of 
        all individual telehealth networks resulting in a National 
        Telemedical Network;
            (10) develop policies for provisioning and prioritizing the 
        use of a National Telemedical Network for bioterrorism and 
        disaster response;
            (11) make recommendations to the Secretary regarding 
        technical assistance and program content for use in the 
        national coordination of the regional networks described in 
        section 3(d)(1);
            (12) provide management for the development of training 
        programs for responders and a mechanism for training via 
        enhanced advanced distributive learning;
            (13) provide project evaluation framework and recommend 
        tools for assessing--
                    (A) the selection and interaction of project 
                participants;
                    (B) educational training needs for an operational 
                testbed;
                    (C) effectiveness of the project; and
                    (D) economic impact estimates; and
            (14) advise the Secretary on issues of patient data 
        security, and compliance with all applicable regulations.
    (c) Membership.--The Task Force established pursuant to subsection 
(a) shall include representation from--
            (1) relevant Federal agencies;
            (2) relevant State and local government agencies;
            (3) professional associations specializing in health care 
        and veterinary medicine; and
            (4) other relevant private sector organizations, including 
        public health and national telehealth organizations and 
        representatives of academic and corporate information 
        management and information technology organizations.
    (d) Meetings and Reports.--
            (1) Meetings.--The Task Force shall meet as the Secretary 
        may direct.
            (2) Reports.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
        enactment of this Act the Task Force shall prepare a report and 
        annually for each of the 3 years thereafter, the Task Force 
        shall prepare and submit a report to Congress regarding the 
        Task Force's activities.
            (3) Initial report.--In addition to the information 
        required under paragraph (2), the initial report required under 
        such paragraph shall specify the information to be gathered 
        from the statewide telehealth networks established under 
        section 3, and the form of such information.
    (e) Implementation.--The Task Force may carry out activities under 
this section in cooperation with other entities, including national 
telehealth organizations.
    (f) Termination.--The Task Force shall terminate upon submission of 
the final report required under subsection (d)(2).

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated to carry 
out this Act $275,000,000, such sums to remain available until 
expended.
    (b) Limit on Administrative Expenses.--Not more than 5 percent of 
the amount appropriated for each fiscal year under subsection (a) shall 
be used for Task Force administrative costs.
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