congressional_record: CREC-1996-10-21-pt1-PgE1942
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| CREC-1996-10-21-pt1-PgE1942 | 1996-10-21 | 104 | 2 | CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 3610, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1997 | HOUSE | EXTENSIONS | ALLOTHER | E1942 | E1943 | [{"name": "Tom Davis", "role": "speaking"}] | [{"congress": "104", "type": "HR", "number": "3610"}] | 142 Cong. Rec. E1942 | Congressional Record, Volume 142 Issue 143 (Monday, October 21, 1996) [Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 143 (Monday, October 21, 1996)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages E1942-E1943] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 3610, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1997 ______ HON. THOMAS M. DAVIS of virginia in the house of representatives Tuesday, October 22, 1996 Mr. DAVIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the provision in the final Conference Agreement to the FY 1997 Department of Defense (DOD) Appropriations Bill, which encourages the Department to pay particular attention to pediatric patients as it explores telemedicine initiatives that would provide cost-effective, accessible, and high quality services for DoD beneficiaries. The Department of Defense in the past decade, has experienced many of the same challenges confronting the Nation's private health care system--increasing costs, uneven access to health care services, and disparate benefit and cost-sharing packages for similarly-situated categories of beneficiaries. As DoD responds to these challenges, there is a particular need to ensure that the transition to managed care for pediatric patients within the Military Health Services System is handled with a high level of professionalism and care. The requirements of a reformed health care delivery system and the emergence of new medical and information technologies have radically changed the manner in which health care is provided and delivered to pediatric patients. Therefore, it is critically important for the Department to develop a partnership with a pediatric hospital which has the proven expertise and track record in the diagnosis and treatment of sick children. Children's National Medical Center (CNMC), located in the Nation's capital, offers significant benefits to DoD and to countless citizens in Northern Virginia, Washington, DC, and Maryland. CNMC has had a longstanding relationship with the Department of Defense through collaboration with DoD facilities, and through the provision of patient care services to a large number of military dependents and the children of DoD civilian employees. CNMC currently has affiliation agreements with Walter [[Page E1943]] Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Medical Center. Through these relationships, CNMC serves as a major regional source of training for military physicians, nurses, technologists, therapists, and other allied health professionals. In recent years, CNMC has worked closely with DoD to develop pediatric quality assurance criteria for emergency medical care services to acutely ill and injured children who are military dependents referred by area military medical treatment facilities. This pilot study involved the development and application of screening criteria designed to assess the process and outcome of pediatric emergency care for head trauma, seizures and respiratory distress due to upper airway construction. The criteria was applied to a sample of six military treatment facilities in the United States. The findings from the study revealed specific aspects of pediatric emergency medical care which would benefit from clinical and/or administrative educational programs. Given the specific expertise which Children's National Medical Center brings to pediatric health care, its longstanding successful relationship with DoD, the National Institutes of Health, and other Federal agencies in health policy and research matters, CNMC is eminently qualified to work with DoD in establishing a state-of-the-art telemedicine network to ensure that pediatric military dependents have access to the most advanced standards of American health care. Telepediatrics demonstration of this nature will provide DoD with otherwise inaccessible state-of-the-art pediatric medical advice and services to providers and their patients. It will also provide the broadest range of pediatric specialty services allowing for the phased integration of target specialties (trauma, radiology, psychiatry), it will develop broad or segmented demonstration of the utility of various telemedicine technologies in the field of pediatric medicine across the range of primary, chronic, and acute care services, and it will demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of telemedicine technologies in enhancing the quality of services and access to pediatric populations in urban, suburban, rural, and regionally dispersed, as well as transitional communities. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support the effort by the Department of Defense to explore telemedicine initiatives which will bring new insights and services to the care of pediatric patients. ____________________ |