What This Bill Does
This bill requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to create a plan for telehealth services (remote medical care delivered through technology) provided by the Veterans Health Administration. The Secretary must also submit a report about the devices given to veterans to help them use these telehealth services.
Who It Affects
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Veterans Health Administration, veterans who receive telehealth services, and Congress.
Key Provisions
* The Secretary must submit a telehealth strategy to Congress within 180 days that includes projections for how many veterans will want telehealth services in 2024, 2025, and 2026, broken down by type of care (primary care, specialties, mental health) and by state (Sec. 2)
* The strategy must estimate what technology and equipment the Veterans Health Administration will need to meet that demand, including quantities and costs of devices, hardware, and software (Sec. 2)
* The Secretary must submit a report within 180 days describing how many of each type of device was given to veterans during 2023 and 2024, broken down by state, including usage rates and total costs (Sec. 3)
* The report must also include how many devices were returned to the Department and how many of those returned devices were given to other veterans (Sec. 3)
What Changes
If this becomes law, the Veterans Health Administration must develop and submit a formal telehealth strategy and device report to Congress. Currently, no such requirement exists based on the bill text.
Important Definitions
Not specified in bill text
Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1144
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop a strategy for telehealth
furnished by the Veterans Health Administration and submit a report
on end-user devices distributed by the Secretary to veterans to facilitate
such telehealth.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 21, 2023
Mr. ROSENDALE (for himself and Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop a
strategy for telehealth furnished by the Veterans Health
Administration and submit a report on end-user devices
distributed by the Secretary to veterans to facilitate such
telehealth.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Vet-
4
erans Affairs Telehealth Strategy Act’’.
5
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•HR 1144 IH
SEC.
2.
TELEHEALTH
STRATEGY
OF
THE
VETERANS
1
HEALTH ADMINISTRATION.
2
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-
3
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall
4
submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the
5
House of Representatives and the Senate a strategy for
6
telehealth services furnished by the Veterans Health Ad-
7
ministration. Such strategy shall contain the following ele-
8
ments:
9
(1) A projection of demand for such telehealth
10
services for the fiscal years 2024, 2025, and 2026,
11
including—
12
(A) aggregate demand for telehealth serv-
13
ices;
14
(B) such demand, disaggregated by pri-
15
mary care, relevant specialties, and mental
16
health;
17
(C) such demand, disaggregated by tele-
18
health modality; and
19
(D) demand described in subparagraphs
20
(B) and (C) disaggregated by State.
21
(2) An estimate of the technology needed to
22
support demand described in paragraph (1), includ-
23
ing—
24
(A) quantities of end-user devices, other
25
hardware, software, and services;
26
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•HR 1144 IH
(B) costs of end-user devices, other hard-
1
ware, software, and services; and
2
(C) quantities and costs described in sub-
3
paragraphs
(A)
and
(B),
respectively,
4
disaggregated by—
5
(i) remote patient monitoring and
6
home telehealth prosthetics;
7
(ii) home- and community-based serv-
8
ices;
9
(iii) clinic-based services; and
10
(iv) hospital and emergency services.
11
SEC. 3. REPORT ON END-USER TELEHEALTH DEVICES FUR-
12
NISHED BY THE VETERANS HEALTH ADMINIS-
13
TRATION.
14
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-
15
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall
16
submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the
17
House of Representatives and the Senate a report on the
18
utilization of end-user devices provided to veterans by the
19
Department to facilitate telehealth during fiscal years
20
2023 and 2024. Such report shall contain the following
21
elements:
22
(1) How many of each type of end-user devices,
23
in total and disaggregated by State, the Secretary
24
has provided to veterans.
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•HR 1144 IH
(2) Usage rates of the devices described in
1
paragraph (1).
2
(3) Total cost to purchase and distribute the
3
devices described in paragraph (1).
4
(4) The number of devices described in para-
5
graph (1) returned to the Department.
6
(5) The number of devices described in para-
7
graph (4) subsequently provided to other veterans.
8
SEC. 4. STATE DEFINED.
9
In this Act, the term ‘‘State’’ has the meaning given
10
such term in section 101 of title 38, United States Code.
11
Æ
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