Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 94 Part 2.djvu/907

 PUBLIC LAW 96-466—OCT. 17, 1980

94 STAT. 2185

"§ 1520. Pilot program of independent living services and assist- 38 USC 1520. ance "(a)(1) During fiscal years 1982 through 1985, the Administrator may, under contracts with public or nonprofit private agencies or organizations, or through facilities of the Department of Medicine and Surgery, which possess a demonstrated capability to conduct programs of independent living services for severely handicapped persons, provide, under regulations which the Administrator shall prescribe, programs of independent living services and assistance under this chapter, in various geographic regions of the United States, to veterans described in paragraph (2) of this subsection. "(2) A program of independent living services and assistance may be made available under this section only to a veteran who has a service-connected disability described in section 1502(1)(A) of this title and with respect to whom it is determined under section 1506(d) of this title that the achievement of a vocational goal is not reasonably feasible and who is selected pursuant to criteria provided for in regulations prescribed under paragraph (1) of this subsection. "(3) The Administrator shall, to the maximum extent feasible, include among those veterans who are provided with programs of independent living services and assistance under this section substantial numbers of veterans described in paragraph (2) of this subsection who are receiving long-term care in Veterans' Administration hospitals and nursing homes and in nursing homes with which the Administrator contracts for the provision of care to veterans. "(4) A program of independent living services and assistance for a veteran shall consist of such services described in section 1504(a) and (b) of this title as the Administrator determines necessary to enable such veteran to achieve maximum independence in daily living. Such veteran shall have the same rights with respect to an individualized written plan of services and assistance as are afforded veterans under section 1507 of this title. "(5) Any contract for services initiated with respect to any veteran under this section before the end of fiscal year 1985 may be continued in effect after the end of such year for the purposes of providing services and assistance to such veteran in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. "(6) Programs of independent living services and assistance shall be initiated for no more than five hundred veterans in each of the fiscal years 1982 through 1985, and the first priority in the provision of such programs shall be afforded to veterans for whom the reasonable feasibility of achieving a vocational goal is precluded solely as a result of a service-connected disability. "(b) Not later than September 30, 1984, the Administrator shall Report to submit to the Congress a report on the programs of independent Congress. living services and assistance provided for in subsection (a) of this section. Such report shall include— "(1) the results of a study which the Administrator shall conduct of the accomplishments and cost-effectiveness of such programs, including the extent to which (A) such programs have met needs for comprehensive independent living services that would not otherwise have been met, (B) severely disabled veterans have achieved and maintained greater independence in daily living as a result of participation in the programs, and (C) costs of care in hospital, nursing home, and domiciliary facilities have been and may be avoided as the result of such programs; and

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