II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1283

To establish a program for the delivery of mental health services by telehealth.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 31, 2001

Mr. JOHNSON introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To establish a program for the delivery of mental health

services by telehealth.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Telehealth Mental

5 Health Services Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES DELIVERED VIA TELE7 HEALTH.

8 Subpart I of part D of title III of the Public Health

9 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended by adding

10 at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 330I. MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES DELIVERED VIA

2 TELEHEALTH.

3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

4 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en5 tity’ means a public or nonprofit private telehealth

6 provider network that offers services that include

7 mental health services provided by qualified mental

8 health providers.

9 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION

10 PROFESSIONALS.—The term ‘qualified mental health

11 education professionals’ refers to teachers, commu12 nity mental health professionals, nurses, and other

13 entities as determined by the Secretary who have ad14 ditional training in the delivery of information on

15 mental illness to children and adolescents or who

16 have additional training in the delivery of informa17 tion on mental illness to the elderly.

18 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED MENTAL HEALTH PROFES19 SIONALS.—The term ‘qualified mental health profes20 sionals’ refers to providers of mental health services

21 reimbursed under the medicare program carried out

22 under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42

23 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) who have additional training in

24 the treatment of mental illness in children and ado25 lescents or who have additional training in the treat26 ment of mental illness in the elderly.
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1 ‘‘(4) SPECIAL POPULATIONS.—The term ‘spe2 cial populations’ refers to the following 2 distinct

3 groups:

4 ‘‘(A) Children and adolescents located in

5 public elementary and public secondary schools

6 in mental health underserved rural areas or in

7 mental health underserved urban areas.

8 ‘‘(B) Elderly individuals located in long9 term care facilities in mental health under10 served rural areas.

11 ‘‘(5) TELEHEALTH.—The term ‘telehealth’

12 means the use of electronic information and tele13 communications technologies to support long dis14 tance clinical health care, patient and professional

15 health-related education, public health, and health

16 administration.

17 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting

19 through the Director of the Office for the Advance20 ment of Telehealth of the Health Resources and

21 Services Administration, shall award grants to eligi22 ble entities to establish demonstration projects for

23 the provision of mental health services to special

24 populations as delivered remotely by qualified mental

25 health professionals using telehealth and for the pro-
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1 vision of education regarding mental illness as deliv2 ered remotely by qualified mental health profes3 sionals and qualified mental health education profes4 sionals using telehealth.

5 ‘‘(2) NUMBER OF DEMONSTRATION

6 PROJECTS.—Ten grants shall be awarded under

7 paragraph (1) to provide services for the children

8 and adolescents described in subsection (a)(4)(A)

9 and not fewer than 6 of such grants shall be for

10 services rendered to individuals in rural areas. Ten

11 grants shall also be awarded under paragraph (1) to

12 provide services for the elderly individuals described

13 in subsection (a)(4)(B) in rural areas. If the max14 imum number of grants to be awarded under para15 graph (1) is not awarded, the Secretary shall award

16 the grants under paragraph (1) in a manner that

17 distributes the grants so as to serve equitably the

18 populations described in subparagraphs (A) and (B)

19 of subsection (a)(4).

20 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT.—Each entity that receives a grant

21 under subsection (b) shall receive not less than $1,500,000

22 under the grant, and shall use not more than 40 percent

23 of the grant funds for equipment.

24 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re2 ceives a grant under this section shall use the grant

3 funds—

4 ‘‘(A) for the populations described in sub5 section (a)(4)(A)—

6 ‘‘(i) to provide mental health services,

7 including diagnosis and treatment of men8 tal illness, in public elementary and public

9 secondary schools as delivered remotely by

10 qualified mental health professionals using

11 telehealth;

12 ‘‘(ii) to provide education regarding

13 mental illness (including suicide and vio14 lence) in public elementary and public sec15 ondary schools as delivered remotely by

16 qualified mental health professionals and

17 qualified mental health education profes18 sionals using telehealth, including edu19 cation regarding early recognition of the

20 signs and symptoms of mental illness, and

21 instruction on coping and dealing with

22 stressful experiences of childhood and ado23 lescence (such as violence, social isolation,

24 and depression); and
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1 ‘‘(iii) to collaborate with local public

2 health entities to provide the mental health

3 services; and

4 ‘‘(B) for the populations described in sub5 section (a)(4)(B)—

6 ‘‘(i) to provide mental health services,

7 including diagnosis and treatment of men8 tal illness, in long-term care facilities as

9 delivered remotely by qualified mental

10 health professionals using telehealth;

11 ‘‘(ii) to provide education regarding

12 mental illness to primary staff (including

13 physicians, nurses, and nursing aides) as

14 delivered remotely by qualified mental

15 health professionals and qualified mental

16 health education professionals using tele17 health, including education regarding early

18 recognition of the signs and symptoms of

19 mental illness, and instruction on coping

20 and dealing with stressful experiences of

21 old age (such as loss of physical and cog22 nitive capabilities, death of loved ones and

23 friends, social isolation, and depression);

24 and
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1 ‘‘(iii) to collaborate with local public

2 health entities to provide the mental health

3 services.

4 ‘‘(2) OTHER USES.—An eligible entity that re5 ceives a grant under this section may also use the

6 grant funds to—

7 ‘‘(A) acquire telehealth equipment to use

8 in public elementary and public secondary

9 schools and long-term care facilities for the ob10 jectives of this section;

11 ‘‘(B) develop curricula to support activities

12 described in subparagraphs (A)(ii) and (B)(ii)

13 of paragraph (1);

14 ‘‘(C) pay telecommunications costs; and

15 ‘‘(D) pay qualified mental health profes16 sionals and qualified mental health education

17 professionals on a reasonable cost basis as de18 termined by the Secretary for services rendered.

19 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITED USES.—An eligible entity

20 that receives a grant under this section shall not use

21 the grant funds to—

22 ‘‘(A) purchase or install transmission

23 equipment (other than such equipment used by

24 qualified mental health professionals to deliver
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1 mental health services using telehealth under

2 the project involved); or

3 ‘‘(B) build upon or acquire real property

4 (except for minor renovations related to the in5 stallation of reimbursable equipment).

6 ‘‘(e) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.—In awarding

7 grants under this section, the Secretary shall ensure, to

8 the greatest extent possible, that such grants are equitably

9 distributed among geographical regions of the United

10 States.

11 ‘‘(f) APPLICATION.—An entity that desires a grant

12 under this section shall submit an application to the Sec13 retary at such time, in such manner, and containing such

14 information as the Secretary determines to be reasonable.

15 ‘‘(g) REPORT.—Not later than 5 years after the date

16 of enactment of the Health Care Safety Net Amendments

17 of 2001, the Secretary shall prepare and submit a report

18 to the appropriate committees of Congress that shall

19 evaluate activities funded with grants under this section.

20 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

21 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section,

22 $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2002 and such sums as may

23 be necessary for fiscal years 2003 through 2009.
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1 ‘‘(i) SUNSET PROVISION.—This section shall be effec2 tive for 7 years from the date of enactment of this sec3 tion.’’.

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