Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 100 Part 1.djvu/417

 PUBLIC LAW 99-272—APR. 7, 1986

100 STAT. 381

"§ 603. Contracts for hospital care and medical services in nonVeterans' Administration facilities "(a) When Veterans' Administration facilities are not capable of furnishing economical hospital care or medical services because of geographical inaccessibility or are not capable of furnishing the care or services required, the Administrator, as authorized in section 610 or 612 of this title, may contract with non-Veterans' Administration facilities in order to furnish— "(1) hospital care or medical services to a veteran for the treatment of— "(A) a service-connected disability; or "(B) a disability for which a veteran was discharged or released from the active military, naval, or air service; "(2) medical services for the treatment of any disability of— "(A) a veteran described in section 612(a)(1)(B) of this title; "(B) a veteran described in section 612(f)(l)(A)(ii) of this title; or "(C) a veteran described in section 612(g) of this title if the Administrator has determined, based on an examination by a physician employed by the Veterans' Administration (or, in areas where no such physician is available, by a physician carrying out such function under a contract or fee arrangement), that the medical condition of such veteran precludes appropriate treatment in Veterans' Administration facilities; "(3) hospital care or medical services for the treatment of medical emergencies which pose a serious threat to the life or health of a veteran receiving medical services in a Veterans' Administration facility until such time following the furnishing of care in the non-Veterans' Administration facility as the veteran can be safely transferred to a Veterans' Administration facility; "(4) hospital care for women veterans; "(5) hospital care, or medical services that will obviate the need for hospital admission, for veterans in a State not contiguous to the contiguous States, except that the annually determined hospital patient load and incidence of the furnishing of medical services to veterans hospitalized or treated at the expense of the Veterans' Administration in Government and nonVeterans' Administration facilities in each such noncontiguous State shall be consistent with the patient load or incidence of the furnishing of medical services for veterans hospitalized or treated by the Veterans' Administration within the 48 contiguous States, but the authority of the Administrator under this paragraph with respect to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall expire on September 30, 1988, and until such date the Administrator may, if necessary to prevent hardship, waive the applicability to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico of the restrictions in this paragraph with respect to hospital patient loads and the incidence of the furnishing of medical services; "(6) diagnostic services necessary for determination of eligibility for, or of the appropriate course of treatment in connection with, furnishing medical services at independent Veterans' Administration out-patient clinics to obviate the need for hospital admission; or

38 USC 603.

38 USC 610, 612.

State and local governments.

�