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1996 SESSION
962026828Patrons-- Baker, Brickley, Connally, DeBoer, Heilig, Melvin, Morgan and Moss; Senators: Lambert, Walker and Woods
WHEREAS, rural communities often lack adequate access to health care services; and
WHEREAS, many rural Virginians must travel long distances to receive specialized medical services, numerous rural areas are experiencing a shortage of primary care providers, and a number of rural hospitals are under financial stress due to declining utilization; and
WHEREAS, telemedicine is the use of telecommunications technology to deliver health care services and health professions education from a central site to distant areas; and
WHEREAS, telemedicine has been used to deliver high quality, specialized health care services and education programs from urban medical centers to distant rural areas; and
WHEREAS, telemedicine could allow more rural Virginians to receive care in their home community instead of traveling to a distant site; and
WHEREAS, telemedicine could allow rural hospitals to continue serving certain patients who would otherwise travel to a distant hospital for care; and
WHEREAS, telemedicine could support efforts to recruit and retain primary care providers in underserved rural areas by supplying convenient access to specialty consultation and continuing education programs; and
WHEREAS, telemedicine demonstration projects are now in progress in at least 35 states including Virginia; and
WHEREAS, third-party reimbursement of telemedicine services is essential for expanding the availability of telemedicine services in rural areas of the Commonwealth, particularly those services involving long-distance consultation via two-way interactive television; and
WHEREAS, the Commonwealth, through the State Employee Health Benefit Program and the Virginia Medicaid program, provides third-party reimbursement for some but not all available telemedicine services; and
WHEREAS, the Virginia Medicaid program has recently initiated third-party reimbursement for selected interactive television telemedicine services, while the State Employee Health Benefits Program does not provide reimbursement for such services; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Secretary of Administration and the Secretary of Health and Human Resources be requested to develop a policy for considering reimbursement for telemedicine services by state health programs, including but not limited to interactive television telemedicine services, subject to appropriate standards of cost-effectiveness and quality assurance.
The Secretaries of Administration and Health and Human Resources shall provide staff support for the study. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Secretaries, upon request.
The Secretaries shall complete their work in time to submit a progress report to the Governor and the General Assembly by September 1, 1996 as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for processing legislative documents.