1.This Act may be cited as the
Veterans Telemedicine Act of
2011
.
2.Teleconsultation and
telemedicine
(a)Teleconsultation
and teleretinal imaging
(1)Subchapter I of chapter 17 of title 38, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
1709.Teleconsultation
and teleretinal imaging
(a)(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)(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)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)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)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)
(1)Incentives for
provision of teleconsultation, teleretinal imaging, telemedicine, and
telehealth servicesThe 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 reportingThe Secretary shall
modify the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation system to require the
inclusion of all telemedicine visits in the calculation of facility
workload.
(d)In
this section:
(1)Teleconsultation
and teleretinal imagingThe 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)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)The
term telehealth means the use of telecommunications to collect
patient data remotely and send data to a monitoring station for
interpretation.