North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson has introduced legislation to screen returning soldiers for PTSD and to expand access to telemedicine.

The PTSD bill will require every soldier to have a face-to-face mental health screening before they are deployed on a combat mission, upon their return, and every six months for two years following their return. The bill is a companion measure to one introduced in the Senate by Senator Max Baucus of Montana.

The Post-Deployment Health Assessment Act of 2009 creates new requirements for identification of PTSD among soldiers. Prior to deployment a soldier will be interviewed in order to establish a baseline against which a subsequent interview upon return from a combat theater could be measured.

The telemedicine legislation would provide $30 million in grants to help health facilities pay for telehealth equipment and expand telehealth support services. Currently about 80% of Americans do not have access to telemedicine because of restrictions that limit funding for these types of facilities to rural areas. The Medicare Telehealth Enhancement Act would expand Medicare reimbursement to urban and suburban areas and include more families.