[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1124 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1124

 To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the utilization of 
  teleconsultation, teleretinal imaging, telemedicine, and telehealth 
coordination services for the provision of health care to veterans, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 26, 2011

  Mr. Conrad introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the utilization of 
  teleconsultation, teleretinal imaging, telemedicine, and telehealth 
coordination services for the provision of health care to veterans, and 
                          for other purposes.

    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 ``Veterans Telemedicine Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. TELECONSULTATION AND TELEMEDICINE.

    (a) Teleconsultation and Teleretinal Imaging.--
            (1) In general.--Subchapter I of chapter 17 of title 38, 
        United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
        following new section:
``Sec. 1709. Teleconsultation and teleretinal imaging
    ``(a) Teleconsultation.--(1) The Secretary shall carry out a 
program of teleconsultation for the provision of remote mental health 
and traumatic brain injury assessments in facilities of the Department 
that are not otherwise able to provide such assessments without 
contracting with third party providers or reimbursing providers through 
a fee basis system.
    ``(2) The Secretary shall, in consultation with appropriate 
professional societies, promulgate technical and clinical care 
standards for the use of teleconsultation services within facilities of 
the Department.
    ``(b) Teleretinal Imaging.--(1) The Secretary shall carry out a 
program of teleretinal imaging in each Veterans Integrated Services 
Network (VISN).
    ``(2) In each fiscal year beginning with fiscal year 2010 and 
ending with fiscal year 2015, the Secretary shall increase the number 
of patients enrolled in each teleretinal imaging program under 
paragraph (1) by not less than five percent from the number of patients 
enrolled in each respective program in the previous fiscal year.
    ``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `teleconsultation' means the use by a health 
        care specialist of telecommunications to assist another health 
        care provider in rendering a diagnosis or treatment.
            ``(2) The term `teleretinal imaging' means the use by a 
        health care specialist of telecommunications, digital retinal 
        imaging, and remote image interpretation to provide eye 
        care.''.
            (2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections at the 
        beginning of chapter 17 of such title is amended by inserting 
        after the item related to section 1708 the following new item:

``1709. Teleconsultation and teleretinal imaging.''.
    (b) Training in Telemedicine.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
shall require each Department of Veterans Affairs facility that is 
involved in the training of medical residents to work with each 
university concerned to develop an elective rotation in telemedicine 
for such residents.
    (c) Enhancement of VERA.--
            (1) Incentives for provision of teleconsultation, 
        teleretinal imaging, telemedicine, and telehealth services.--
        The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall modify the Veterans 
        Equitable Resource Allocation system to provide incentives for 
        the utilization of teleconsultation, teleretinal imaging, 
        telemedicine, and telehealth coordination services.
            (2) Inclusion of telemedicine visits in workload 
        reporting.--The Secretary shall modify the Veterans Equitable 
        Resource Allocation system to require the inclusion of all 
        telemedicine visits in the calculation of facility workload.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Teleconsultation and teleretinal imaging.--The terms 
        ``teleconsultation'' and ``teleretinal imaging'' have the 
        meanings given such terms in section 1720G of title 38, United 
        States Code, as added by subsection (a).
            (2) Telemedicine.--The term ``telemedicine'' means the use 
        by a health care provider of telecommunications to assist in 
        the diagnosis or treatment of a patient's medical condition.
            (3) Telehealth.--The term ``telehealth'' means the use of 
        telecommunications to collect patient data remotely and send 
        data to a monitoring station for interpretation.
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