Sec. 201. Establishment of strategic plan requirement for Office of Connected Care of Department of Veterans Affairs
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Congress makes the following findings: The COVID–19 pandemic caused the Department of Veterans Affairs to exponentially increase telehealth and virtual care modalities, including VA Video Connect, to deliver health care services to veteran patients. Between January 2020 and January 2021, the number of telehealth appointments offered by the Department increased by 1,831 percent. The Department maintains strategic partnerships, such as the Digital Divide Consult, with a goal of ensuring veterans who reside in rural, highly rural, or medically underserved areas have access to high-quality telehealth services offered by the Department.
As of 2019, veterans who reside in rural and highly rural areas make up approximately 1/3 of veteran enrollees in the patient enrollment system, and are on average, older than their veteran peers in ubran areas, experience higher degrees of financial instability, and live with a greater number of complex health needs and comorbidities. The Federal Communications Commission estimated in 2020 that 15 percent of veteran households do not have an internet connection. Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act ( Public Law 116–136 ), Congress granted the Department additional authority to enter into short-term agreements or contracts with private sector telecommunications companies to provide certain broadband services for the purposes of providing expanded mental health services to isolated veterans through telehealth or VA Video Connect during a public health emergency.
The authority described in paragraph
(6)was not utilized to the fullest extent by the Department. Though the Department has made significant progress in expanding telehealth services offered to veterans who are enrolled in the patient enrollment system, significant gaps still exist to ensure all veterans receive equal and high-quality access to virtual care. Questions regarding the efficacy of using telehealth for certain health care services and specialities remain, and should be further studied. The Department continues to expand telehealth and virtual care offerings for primary care, mental health care, specialty care, urgent care, and even remote intensive care units. It is the sense of Congress that the telehealth services offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs should be routinely measured and evaluated to ensure the telehealth technologies and modalities delivered to veteran patients to treat a wide variety of health conditions are as effective as in-person treatment for primary care, mental health care, and other forms of specialty care. Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, acting through the Office of Connected Care of the Department of Veterans Affairs, shall develop a strategic plan to ensure the effectiveness of the telehealth technologies and modalities delivered by the Department to veterans who are enrolled in the patient enrollment system. The Secretary shall update the strategic plan required under paragraph
(1)not less frequently than once every three years following development of the plan. The Secretary shall prepare any update required under subparagraph
(A)in consultation with the following: The Chief Officer of the Office of Connected Care of the Department. The Executive Director of Telehealth Services of the Office of Connected Care. The Executive Director of Connected Health of the Office of Connected Care. The Executive Director of the Office of Rural Health of the Department. The Executive Director of Solution Delivery, IT Operations and Services of the Office of Information and Technology of the Department. The strategic plan required under paragraph (1), and any update to that plan under paragraph (2), shall include, at a minimum, the following: A comprehensive list of all health care specialities the Department is currently delivering by telehealth or virtual care. An assessment of the effectiveness and patient outcomes for each type of health care speciality delivered by telehealth or virtual care by the Department. An assessment of satisfaction of veterans in receiving care through telehealth or virtual care disaggregated by age group and by Veterans Integrated Service Network. An assessment of the percentage of virtual visits delivered by the Department through each modality including standard telephone telehealth, VA Video Connect, and the Accessing Telehealth through Local Area Stations program of the Department. An outline of all current partnerships maintained by the Department to bolster telehealth or virtual care services for veterans. An assessment of the barriers faced by the Department in delivering telehealth or virtual care services to veterans residing in rural and highly rural areas, and the strategies the Department is deploying beyond purchasing hardware for veterans who are enrolled in the patient enrollment system. A detailed plan illustrating how the Department is working with other Federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Agriculture, the Federal Communications Commission, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, to enhance connectivity in rural, highly rural, and medically underserved areas to better reach all veterans. The feasibility and advisability of partnering with Federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, and critical access hospitals to fill the gap for health care services that exists for veterans who reside in rural and highly rural areas. An evaluation of the number of veterans who are enrolled in the patient enrollment system who have previously received care under the Veterans Community Care Program under section 1703 of title 38, United States Code. Not later than 180 days after the development of the strategic plan under paragraph
(1)of subsection (c), and not later than 180 days after each update under paragraph
(2)of such subsection thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a report that includes the following: The completed strategic plan or update, as the case may be. An identification of areas of improvement by the Department in the delivery of telehealth and virtual care services to veterans who are enrolled in the patient enrollment system, with a timeline for improvements to be implemented. The term patient enrollment system means the system of annual patient enrollment of the Department of Veterans Affairs established and operated under section 1705(a) of title 38, United States Code. The terms rural and highly rural have the meanings given those terms in the Rural-Urban Commuting Areas coding system of the Department of Agriculture. The term VA Video Connect means the program of the Department of Veterans Affairs to connect veterans with their health care team from anywhere, using encryption to ensure a secure and private connection. The term veteran has the meaning given that term in section 101(2) of title 38, United States Code.
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Sec. 201
Establishment of strategic plan requirement for Office of Connected Care of Department of Veterans Affairs
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