Bill Text: VA SB19 | 2016 | Regular Session | Engrossed

Virginia Senate Bill 19 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Telemedicine; pilot program.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-03-08 - Left in Appropriations [SB19 Detail]

Download: Virginia-2016-SB19-Engrossed.html

16100390D
SENATE BILL NO. 19 Senate Amendments in [ ] -- February 12, 2016 A BILL directing the Department of Health to establish a three-year telemedicine pilot program. ---------- Patrons Prior to Engrossment--Senator Stanley; Delegate: Edmunds ---------- Referred to Committee on Education and Health ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. §1. The Department of Health, in partnership with a hospital licensed in the Commonwealth, shall establish a three-year telemedicine pilot program designed to reduce patient use of emergency department facilities for the treatment of low-acuity conditions. The partnering hospital shall (i) match the Department's funding, (ii) be located in a locality with a population of 200,000 or less, and (iii) currently serve a community in which at least 20 percent of area residents' primary access to health care is through the use of emergency department or urgent care facilities. The Department and the partnering hospital shall establish a telemedicine clinic that utilizes nurse practitioners, in collaboration and coordination with local primary care physicians, to assess patient conditions and needs. The clinic shall be available to patients who are referred by the partnering hospital's emergency department and to patients who access the telemedicine clinic directly. The Department shall report the results of the pilot program to the State Board of Health and to the General Assembly by October 1, 2019.

[ 2. That the provisions of this act shall not become effective unless an appropriation effectuating the purposes of this act is included in a general appropriation act passed in 2016 by the General Assembly that becomes law. ]