Telehealth Improvement Act of 2004

Bill: 108-s-2325
Sponsor: Sen. Edwards, John [D-NC]
Introduced: 2004-04-21 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Access to health care
Accreditation (Medical care)
Alzheimer's disease
Caregivers
Case management
Chronically ill
Clinics
Communication in medicine
Community health services
Conferences
Congregate housing
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Cost effectiveness
Curricula
Dental care
Dentistry
Dentists
Department of Health and Human Services
Distance education
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Executive reorganization
Families
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to Indians
Federal aid to education
Federal aid to health facilities
Government Operations and Politics
Governmental investigations
Health education
Health information systems
Higher education
Home care services
Housing and Community Development
Indian medical care
Interstate relations
Law
Licenses
Long-term care
Medical economics
Medical education
Medical technology
Medicare
Mental care facilities
Minorities
Native Americans
Nursing homes
Patient satisfaction
Performance measurement
Preventive medicine
Quality of care
Retirement communities
Rural health
Science, Technology, Communications
Social Welfare
Telemedicine
Terminal care

Summary:
action_date: 2004-04-21
text: 
Telehealth Improvement Act of 2004 - Amends the Social Security Act to: (1) increase the type of originating sites allowed to offer telehealth services, including skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and county or community health clinics; and (2) remove the requirement that such originating sites must be in rural areas.
 
Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to convene a conference of State licensing boards, local telehealth projects, health care practitioners, and patient advocates to promote interstate licensure for telehealth projects.
 
Authorizes the Director of the Office of the Advancement of Telehealth to award grants to: (1) demonstrate how telehealth technologies can be used to expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of health care services and to improve and expand the training of health care providers and the quality of health information available; (2) provide telehealth services to patients who reside in areas under the jurisdiction of Indian tribes or tribal organizations; and (3) provide oral health services to patients who reside in rural areas.
 
Directs the Secretary to establish a Joint Working Group on Telehealth to: (1) identify, monitor, and coordinate Federal telehealth projects, data sets, and programs; (2) analyze how telehealth systems are expanding access to health care services, education, and information; (3) analyze the clinical, educational, or administrative efficacy and cost-effectiveness of telehealth applications; (4) analyze the quality of the telehealth services delivered; and (5) make recommendations for coordinating Federal and State efforts to increase access to health services, education, and information in rural and medically underserved areas.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-04-21
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2004-04-21
text: Introduced in Senate