Bill Text: VA SB369 | 2016 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Telemedicine pilot program; to expand access, etc., to health care services in certain areas.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2016-04-20 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0763) [SB369 Detail]

Download: Virginia-2016-SB369-Comm_Sub.html

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16105368D
SENATE BILL NO. 369 AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE (Proposed by the Senate Committee on Finance on February 10, 2016) (Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Stanley) A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 32.1-11.5:1, relating to nurse practitioners; practicing in telemedicine pilot program.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 32.1-11.5:1 as follows:

§32.1-11.5:1. Pilot program; patient care team physician; telemedicine.

The Department shall establish a pilot program for physicians to serve, via telemedicine as described in §38.2-3418.16, as patient care team physicians to nurse practitioners practicing, in accordance with §§54.1-2957 and 54.1-2957.01, at practice sites in medically underserved areas of the Commonwealth as determined by the Department. Such pilot program shall provide nurse practitioners who relocate to or presently practice in medically underserved areas with patient care team physicians, through telemedicine, if such physicians cannot be otherwise engaged.

The Department, in developing the pilot program and on an ongoing basis as needed, shall engage telemedicine programs presently operating in the Commonwealth, including the Virginia Telehealth Network, and leverage their resources to the greatest extent possible.

The pilot program shall, to the extent possible, develop a list of physicians ready to serve as patient care team physicians, update such list on a regular basis, and have such list readily available when contacted by nurse practitioners. The Department and the Department of Health Professions shall post contact information on their respective websites for the use of nurse practitioners in need of engaging a patient care team physicians.

The pilot program shall issue Requests for Proposals and award competitive grants for telemedicine services commensurate with funding available to the pilot program.

2. That the State Department of Health shall consult all appropriate stakeholders in establishing the pilot program created by this act, including but not limited to the Medical Society of Virginia, the Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners, the Virginia Academy of Family Physicians, the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, and public and private institutions of higher education located in the Commonwealth that award medical degrees.

3. 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.