Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 95.djvu/628

 95 STAT. 602

Publication in Register

PUBLIC LAW 97-35—AUG. 13, 1981 Affairs shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a full report with respect to the regulations (including guidelines, policies, and procedures thereunder) prescribed pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection. Such report shall include— (A) an explanation of any inconsistency between standards made applicable by such regulations and the standards promulgated by the Secretary pursuant to this subtitle; (B) an account of the extent, substance, and results of consultations with the Secretary respecting the prescription and implementation of regulations by the Administrator; and (C) such recommendations for legislation and administrative action as the Administrator determines are necessary and desirable. (3) The Administrator of Veterans' Affairs shall publish the report required by paragraph (2) in the Federal Register.

Subtitle J—Orderly Closure, Transfer, and Financial Self-Sufficiency of Public Health Service Hospitals and Clinics FINDINGS AND PURPOSES

42 USC 248b ^°^^-

SEC. 985. (a) Congress finds that— (1) because of national budgetary considerations, it has become necessary to terminate Federal appropriations for Public Health Service hospitals and clinics, (2) with proper planning and coordination, some of these hospitals and clinics could be transferred to State, local, or private control or become financially self-sufficient and continue to provide effective and efficient health care to individuals in the areas in which they are located, (3) a precipitous closure of these hospitals and clinics will preclude the possibility of such orderly transfer to entities which are willing and able to take over operations at such facilities and will cause unnecessary and costly hardships on the patients and staffs at such facilities and on the communities in which the facilities are located, and (4) it is in the national interest, consistent with sound budgetary considerations, to assist in the orderly and prompt transfer of such operations to State, local, or private operation or in the achievement of financial self-sufficiency where feasible. (b) The purposes of this subtitle are— (1) to provide for the prompt and orderly closure by October 31, 1981, of Public Health Service hospitals and clinics which cannot reasonably be transferred to State, local, or private operation or become financially self-sufficient and for the transfer or achievement of financial self-sufficiency by September 30, 1982, of those hospitals and clinics which can be so transferred or which can achieve such financial self-sufficiency, and (2) to provide for transitional assistance for merchant seamen whose entitlement to receive free care through Public Health Service hospitals and clinics is repealed and who are hospitalized at the end of fiscal year 1981 and require continuing hospitalization.

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