I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6110 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize telehealth and 

telemedicine grant programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize 

telehealth and telemedicine grant programs. 

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 Improve5 ment and Expansion Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF TELEHEALTH AND TELE7 MEDICINE GRANT PROGRAMS. 

8 (a) TELEHEALTH NETWORK AND TELEHEALTH RE9 SOURCE CENTERS GRANT PROGRAMS.—Section 330I (42 

10 U.S.C. 254c–14) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a), by amending paragraph 

2 (3) to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(3) FRONTIER COMMUNITY.—The term ‘fron4 tier community’ shall have such meaning as devel5 oped by the Secretary, in consultation with the Sec6 retary of Agriculture, not later than one year after 

7 the date of the enactment of the Telehealth Improve8 ment and Expansion Act of 2010.’’; 

9 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘, under sec10 tion 301,’’; 

11 (3) in subsection (c)(2), by striking ‘‘under sec12 tion 301’’ and inserting ‘‘under this section’’; 

13 (4) in subsection (f)(1)(B)(iii)— 

14 (A) in subclause (IV), by striking ‘‘Local 

15 health departments’’ and inserting ‘‘State, local, 

16 or tribal health departments’’; 

17 (B) in subclause (VII), by inserting ‘‘, in18 cluding skilled nursing facilities’’ before the pe19 riod at the end; 

20 (C) in subclause (IX), by inserting ‘‘, in21 cluding community mental health centers or 

22 county mental health and public mental health 

23 facilities’’ before the period at the end; and 

24 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

25 ‘‘(XIII) Renal dialysis facilities.’’; 


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1 (5) by amending subsection (i) to read as fol2 lows: 

3 ‘‘(i) PREFERENCES.— 

4 ‘‘(1) TELEHEALTH NETWORKS.—In awarding 

5 grants under subsection (d)(1) for projects involving 

6 telehealth networks, the Secretary shall give pref7 erence to eligible entities meeting at least one of the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(A) NETWORK.—The eligible entity is a 

10 health care provider in, or proposing to form, a 

11 health care network that furnishes services in a 

12 medically underserved area or a health profes13 sional shortage area. 

14 ‘‘(B) BROAD GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE.— 

15 The eligible entity demonstrates broad geo16 graphic coverage in the rural or medically un17 derserved areas of the State or States in which 

18 the entity is located. 

19 ‘‘(C) LINKAGES.—The eligible entity dem20 onstrates its ability to use the grant to establish 

21 or develop plans for telehealth systems that will 

22 link rural hospitals and rural health care pro23 viders to other hospitals, health care providers, 

24 and patients. 


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1 ‘‘(D) EFFICIENCY.—The eligible entity 

2 demonstrates its ability to use the grant to pro3 mote greater efficiency in the use of health care 

4 resources. 

5 ‘‘(E) VIABILITY.—The eligible entity dem6 onstrates the long-term viability of projects 

7 through— 

8 ‘‘(i) availability of non-Federal fund9 ing sources; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) institutional and community sup11 port for the telehealth network. 

12 ‘‘(F) SERVICES.—The eligible entity pro13 vides a plan for coordinating system use by eli14 gible entities and prioritizes use of grant funds 

15 for health care services over nonclinical uses. 

16 ‘‘(2) TELEHEALTH RESOURCE CENTERS.—In 

17 awarding grants under subsection (d)(2) for projects 

18 involving telehealth resource centers, the Secretary 

19 shall give preference to eligible entities meeting at 

20 least one of the following: 

21 ‘‘(A) PROVISION OF A BROAD RANGE OF

22 SERVICES.—The eligible entity has a record of 

23 success in the provision of a broad range of 

24 telehealth services to medically underserved 

25 areas or populations. 


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1 ‘‘(B) PROVISION OF TELEHEALTH TECH2 NICAL ASSISTANCE.—The eligible entity has a 

3 record of success in the provision of technical 

4 assistance to providers serving medically under5 served areas or populations in the establishment 

6 and implementation of telehealth services. 

7 ‘‘(C) COLLABORATION AND SHARING OF

8 EXPERTISE.—The eligible entity has a dem9 onstrated record of collaborating and sharing 

10 expertise with providers of telehealth services at 

11 the national, regional, State, and local levels.’’; 

12 (6) in subsection (j)(2)(B), by striking ‘‘such 

13 projects for fiscal year 2001’’ and all that follows 

14 through the period and inserting ‘‘such projects for 

15 fiscal year 2010.’’; 

16 (7) in subsection (k)(1)— 

17 (A) in subparagraph (E)(i), by striking 

18 ‘‘transmission of medical data’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘transmission and electronic archival of medical 

20 data’’; and 

21 (B) by amending subparagraph (F) to read 

22 as follows: 

23 ‘‘(F) developing projects to use telehealth 

24 technology to— 


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1 ‘‘(i) facilitate collaboration between 

2 health care providers; 

3 ‘‘(ii) promote telenursing services; or 

4 ‘‘(iii) promote patient understanding 

5 and adherence to national guidelines for 

6 chronic disease and self-management of 

7 such conditions;’’; 

8 (8) in subsection (n), by inserting ‘‘and mini9 mize duplication’’ before the period at the end; 

10 (9) in subsection (q), by striking ‘‘Not later 

11 than September 30, 2005’’ and inserting ‘‘Not later 

12 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of the 

13 Telehealth Improvement and Expansion Act of 

14 2010, and annually thereafter’’; 

15 (10) by striking subsection (r); 

16 (11) by redesignating subsection (s) as sub17 section (r); and 

18 (12) in subsection (r) (as so redesignated)— 

19 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

20 (i) by striking ‘‘and’’ before ‘‘such 

21 sums’’; and 

22 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, $10,000,000 for 

23 each of the fiscal years 2012 through 

24 2016’’ before the semicolon; and 

25 (B) in paragraph (2)— 


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1 (i) by striking ‘‘and’’ before ‘‘such 

2 sums’’; and 

3 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, $10,000,000 for 

4 each of the fiscal years 2012 through 

5 2016’’ before the period. 

6 (b) TELEMEDICINE; INCENTIVE GRANTS REGARDING

7 COORDINATION AMONG STATES.—Subsection (b) of sec8 tion 330L (42 U.S.C. 254c–18) is amended by inserting 

9 ‘‘, $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2012 through 

10 2016’’ before the period at the end. 

Æ 


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