Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Department of Veterans Affairs Telehealth Strategy Act”.
Department of Veterans Affairs Telehealth Strategy Act
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.
Sec. 2 Telehealth strategy of the Veterans Health Administration
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate a strategy for telehealth services furnished by the Veterans Health Administration. Such strategy shall contain the following elements:
A projection of demand for such telehealth services for the fiscal years 2022, 2023, and 2024, including—
aggregate demand for telehealth services;
such demand, disaggregated by primary care, relevant specialties, and mental health;
such demand, disaggregated by telehealth modality; and
demand described in subparagraphs (B) and (C) disaggregated by State.
An estimate of the technology needed to support demand described in paragraph (1), including—
quantities of end-user devices, other hardware, software, and services;
costs of end-user devices, other hardware, software, and services; and
quantities and costs described in subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, disaggregated by—
remote patient monitoring and home telehealth prosthetics;
home- and community-based services;
clinic-based services; and
hospital and emergency services.
Sec. 3 Report on end-user telehealth devices furnished by the Veterans Health Administration
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate a report on the utilization of end-user devices provided to veterans by the Department to facilitate telehealth during fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Such report shall contain the following elements:
How many of each type of end-user devices, in total and disaggregated by State, the Secretary has provided to veterans.
Usage rates of the devices described in paragraph (1).
Total cost to purchase and distribute the devices described in paragraph (1).
The number of devices described in paragraph (1) returned to the Department.
The number of devices described in paragraph (4) subsequently provided to other veterans.
Sec. 4 State defined
In this Act, the term “State” has the meaning given such term in section 101 of title 38, United States Code.