§1710A. Required nursing home care

(a) The Secretary shall provide nursing home care which the Secretary determines is needed (1) to any veteran in need of such care for a service-connected disability, and (2) to any veteran who is in need of such care and who has a service-connected disability rated at 70 percent or more.

(b)(1) The Secretary shall ensure that a veteran described in subsection (a) who continues to need nursing home care is not, after placement in a Department nursing home, transferred from the facility without the consent of the veteran, or, in the event the veteran cannot provide informed consent, the representative of the veteran.

(2) Nothing in subsection (a) may be construed as authorizing or requiring that a veteran who is receiving nursing home care in a Department nursing home on the date of the enactment of this section be displaced, transferred, or discharged from the facility.

(c) The provisions of subsection (a) shall terminate on December 31, 2003.

(Added Pub. L. 106–117, title I, §101(a)(1), Nov. 30, 1999, 113 Stat. 1547 .)

References in Text

The date of the enactment of this section, referred to in subsec. (b)(2), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 106–117, which was approved Nov. 30, 1999.

Report to Congressional Committees

Pub. L. 106–117, title I, §101(i), Nov. 30, 1999, 113 Stat. 1550 , provided that: "Not later than January 1, 2003, the Secretary [of Veterans Affairs] shall submit to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives a report on the operation of this section [enacting this section and section 1710B of this title, amending sections 1701, 1710, 1720, 1720B and 1741 of this title, and enacting provisions set out as a note under section 1710B of this title] (including the amendments made by this section). The Secretary shall include in the report-

"(1) the Secretary's assessment of the experience of the Department [of Veterans Affairs] under the provisions of this section;

"(2) the costs incurred by the Department under the provisions of this section and a comparison of those costs with the Secretary's estimate of the costs that would have been incurred by the Secretary for extended care services if this section had not been enacted; and

"(3) the Secretary's recommendations, with respect to the provisions of section 1710A(a) of title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), and with respect to the provisions of section 1701(10) of such title, as added by subsection (b), as to-

"(A) whether those provisions should be extended or made permanent; and

"(B) what modifications, if any, should be made to those provisions."

Section Referred to in Other Sections

This section is referred to in section 1710 of this title.