Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 122.djvu/4147

 12 2 STA T .4 124 PUBLIC LA W 11 0–387—O CT. 10 , 2008 ‘ ‘ (2)Ano n -servic e-connec t e d dis ab i l it y associated w it h and heldtobea g gravating a service-connected disability . ‘‘( 3 ) Any disability o f a veteran if the veteran has a total disability p er m anent in nat u re from a service-connected dis- ability. ‘‘( 4 ) Any illness , in j ury, or dental condition of a veteran who — ‘‘(A) is a participant in a vocational rehabilitation pro- gram (as defined in section 3 10 1( 9 ) of this title) and ‘‘( B ) is medically determined to have been in need of care or treatment to ma k e possible the veteran ’ s entrance into a course of training, or prevent interruption of a course of training, or hasten the return to a course of training which was interrupted because of such illness, injury, or dental condition.’’; (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘care or services’’ both places it appears and inserting ‘‘emergency treatment’’; and (3) by adding at the end the following new subsection

‘‘(c) I n this section, the term ‘emergency treatment’ has the meaning given such term in section 1 7 2 5 (f)(1) of this title.’’. SEC.403 . PILOT P R O G R AM O F E NH ANCE D CONTRACT CARE A U THORIT Y FOR HEALTH CARE NEEDS OF V ETERANS IN HIGHLY RURAL AREAS. (a) PILOT P R O G R AMREQU IRE D .— (1) I N GENERAL.— T he S ecretary of V eterans Affairs shall conduct a pilot program under which the Secretary provides covered health services to covered veterans through q ualifying non- D epartment of Veterans Affairs health care providers. (2) C OMMEN C EMENT.—The Secretary shall commence the conduct of the pilot program on the date that is 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. (3) TERMINATION.—A veteran may receive health services under the pilot program only during the three-year period beginning on the date of the commencement of the pilot pro- gram under paragraph (2). (4) PROGRAM LOCATION S .—The pilot program shall be car- ried out within areas selected by the Secretary for the purposes of the pilot program in at least five Veterans Integrated Service N etworks (VISNs). O f the Veterans Integrated Service Net- works so selected— (A) not less than four such networks shall include at least three highly rural counties, as determined by the Secretary upon consideration of the most recent decennial census; (B) not less than one such network, not including a network selected under subparagraph (A), shall include only one highly rural county, as determined by the Sec- retary upon consideration of the most recent decennial census; (C) all such networks shall include area within the borders of at least four States; and (D) no such networks shall be participants in the H ealthcare E ffectiveness through Resource Optimi z ation pilot program of the Department of Veterans Affairs. (b) CO V ERED VETERANS.— Deadlin e .38USC170 3 n ot e.

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