In the case of the House proposal for VA patients and docs, it is likely that federal HIPAA rules would prevail, since the VA is a federal agency, says Timothy Rider, a legislative assistant to Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) who introduced the Veterans E-Health & Telemedicine Support Act of 2012 (H.R. 6107) with Glen Thompson (R-PA) and 11 other bipartisan co-sponsors.