which at least 1⁄2 shall be dedicated to providing 
services in rural communities. 
‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded pursuant to 
subsection (b) may be used for activities including— 
‘‘(1) improving access to coordinated health 
care services and resource levels of care consistent 
with quality health care services and optimal patient 
outcomes, improving the quality of such care, in-
creasing patient satisfaction with such care, and re-
ducing the cost of such care through advanced tele-
communication technologies; 
‘‘(2) developing effective care management 
practices and educational curricula to train health 
care professionals, paraprofessionals, and caregivers, 
including family members, and to increase the gen-
eral level of competency of such individuals through 
such training; and 
‘‘(3) developing culturally competent curricula 
to train health care professionals, paraprofessionals, 
and caregivers, including family members, serving 
integrative eldercare patients in the use of tele-
communications. 
‘‘(d) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 
grant under subsection (b), an eligible provider, in con-
sultation with the appropriate State office of rural health 
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or another appropriate State entity, shall prepare and sub-
mit to the Director an application, at such time, in such 
manner, and containing such information as the Director 
may require, including— 
‘‘(1) a description of the project that the eligi-
ble entity will carry out using the funds provided 
under the grant; 
‘‘(2) a description of the manner in which the 
project funded under the grant will meet the health 
care needs of rural or other populations to be served 
through the project, or improve the access to serv-
ices of, and the quality of the services received by, 
those populations; 
‘‘(3) evidence of local support for the project, 
and a description of how the areas, communities, or 
populations to be served will be involved in the devel-
opment and ongoing operations of the project; 
‘‘(4) a plan for sustaining the project after Fed-
eral support for the project has ended; 
‘‘(5) information on the source and amount of 
non-Federal funds that the entity will provide for 
the project; 
‘‘(6) information demonstrating the long-term 
viability of the project, and other evidence of institu-
tional commitment of the entity to the project; 
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‘‘(7) information on how services will be used to 
eliminate health care disparities; 
‘‘(8) in the case of an application for a project 
involving a telehealth network, information dem-
onstrating how the project will promote the integra-
tion of telehealth technologies into the operations of 
health care providers, to avoid redundancy, and im-
prove access to and the quality of care; and 
‘‘(9) other such information as the Director de-
termines to be appropriate. 
‘‘(e) REPORT.— 
‘‘(1) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of termination of the last grant to be 
awarded under this section, the Director shall sub-
mit to Congress a final report— 
‘‘(A) describing the results of the programs 
funded by grants awarded pursuant to this sec-
tion; and 
‘‘(B) evaluating the impact of the use of 
telehealth services in an integrative eldercare 
setting on— 
‘‘(i) access to care for patients served 
by integrative eldercare programs; and 
‘‘(ii) the quality of, patient satisfac-
tion with, and the cost of, such care. 
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‘‘(2) ENSURING ACCESS TO QUALITY CARE.—In 
conducting the evaluation under paragraph (1)(B), 
the Director shall— 
‘‘(A) give special consideration to the im-
pact of programs funded under this section on 
face-to-face access to medical providers; and 
‘‘(B) develop specific measures to evaluate 
the quality of care provided to those partici-
pating in such programs to ensure that tele-
health augments the plan of care. 
‘‘(f) ELIGIBLE PROVIDER.—The term ‘eligible pro-
vider’ means a consortia of home and facility-based care 
providers that includes providers from no less than 2 of 
the following: 
‘‘(1) An adult congregate care facility. 
‘‘(2) A continuing care retirement community. 
‘‘(3) An assisted living facility. 
‘‘(4) An Alzheimer’s facility. 
‘‘(5) An institutional hospice facility. 
‘‘(6) A residential care facility. 
‘‘(7) An adult foster home. 
‘‘(8) A State-licensed nursing home, including a 
skilled nursing facility, an intermediate care facility, 
licensed home health provider or other health care 
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provider that the Director deems appropriate and 
consistent with the purposes of this section. 
‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) DIRECTOR; OFFICE.—The terms ‘Director’ 
and ‘Office’ mean the Director of the Office for the 
Advancement of Telehealth and the Office for the 
Advancement of Telehealth, respectively. 
‘‘(2) INTEGRATIVE ELDERCARE.—The term ‘in-
tegrative eldercare’ includes case management and 
coordination of care for elderly patients recovering 
from acute illness or coping with chronic disease at 
the lowest intensity and resource level of care con-
sistent with quality health care services and optimal 
patient outcomes. 
‘‘(3) TELEHEALTH SERVICES.—The term ‘tele-
health services’ means services provided through 
telehealth technologies. 
‘‘(4) TELEHEALTH TECHNOLOGIES.—The term 
‘telehealth technologies’ means technologies relating 
to the use of electronic information, and tele-
communications technologies, to support and pro-
mote, at a distance, health care, patient and profes-
sional health-related education, health administra-
tion, and public health. 
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‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Office for the Ad-
vancement of Telehealth to carry out this section 
$45,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and such sums as may 
be necessary for each of fiscal years 2009 through 2013. 
‘‘SEC. 330N. ORAL HEALTH TELEHEALTH DEMONSTRATION 
PROJECT. 
‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 
evaluate the use of telehealth services to expand access 
to oral health services and improve oral health outcomes 
among rural and underserved urban patients. 
‘‘(b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director is authorized 
to award competitive grants to eligible providers, in-
dividually or as part of a network of eligible pro-
viders, for the provision of oral health services to im-
prove patient care, prevent health care complica-
tions, improve patient outcomes, and achieve effi-
ciencies in the delivery of oral health care to patients 
who reside in rural areas. 
‘‘(2) GRANT
PERIOD.—The Director shall 
award grants under this section for a period of up 
to 5 years. 
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‘‘(3) NUMBER
OF
GRANTS.—The number of 
grants awarded under this section shall not exceed 
30 grants. 
‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded pursuant to 
subsection (b) may be used for activities including— 
‘‘(1) improving access to care for rural and un-
derserved urban patients served by eligible providers, 
improving the quality of that care, increasing patient 
satisfaction with that care, and reducing the cost of 
that care through advanced telecommunication tech-
nologies; 
‘‘(2) developing effective oral telehealth care 
management practices and culturally competent edu-
cational curricula to train oral health professionals 
and paraprofessionals and increase their general 
level of competency through that training; and 
‘‘(3) developing culturally competent curricula 
to train health care professionals and paraprofes-
sionals, serving rural and underserved urban pa-
tients in the use of telecommunications. 
‘‘(d) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 
grant under subsection (b), an eligible entity, in consulta-
tion with the appropriate State office of rural health or 
another appropriate State entity, shall prepare and submit 
to the Director an application, at such time, in such man-
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