Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 112-116.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · May 26, 2011
Veterans Telemedicine Act of 2011 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a program of: (1) teleconsultation for the provision of remote mental health and traumatic brain injury assessments in facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that are not otherwise able to provide such assessments without contracting with third party providers or reimbursing providers through a fee basis system, and (2) teleretinal imaging in each Veterans Integrated Services Network (VISN). Requires the Secretary to modify the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) system to provide incentives for such programs, telemedicine, and telehealth coordination services.
Defines: (1) "teleconsultation" as the use of telecommunications by a health care specialist to assist another health care provider in rendering a diagnosis or treatment; (2) "teleretinal imaging" as the use by a health care specialist of telecommunications, digital retinal imaging, and remote image interpretation to provide eye care; and (3) "telehealth" as the use of telecommunications to collect patient data remotely and send data to a monitoring station for interpretation.
Directs the Secretary to require each VA facility involved in training medical residents to work with each university concerned to develop an elective rotation in telemedicine for such residents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 14, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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