§ 8107. Operational and construction plans for medical facilities
(a)
In order to promote effective planning for the efficient provision of care to eligible veterans, the Secretary, based on the analysis and recommendations of the Under Secretary for Health, shall submit to each committee an annual report regarding long-range health planning of the Department. The report shall be submitted each year not later than the date on which the budget for the next fiscal year is submitted to the Congress under section
1105 of title
31.
(b)
Each report under subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1)
A five-year strategic plan for the provision of care under chapter
17 of this title to eligible veterans through coordinated networks of medical facilities operating within prescribed geographic service-delivery areas, such plan to include provision of services for the specialized treatment and rehabilitative needs of disabled veterans (including veterans with spinal cord dysfunction, blindness, amputations, and mental illness) through distinct programs or facilities of the Department dedicated to the specialized needs of those veterans.
(c)
The Secretary shall submit to each committee not later than January 31 of each year a report showing the location, space, cost, and status of each medical facility
(1)
the construction, alteration, lease, or other acquisition of which has been approved under section
8104
(a) of this title, and
(d)
(1)
The Secretary shall submit to each committee, not later than January 31 of each year, a report showing the current priorities of the Department for proposed major medical construction projects. Each such report shall identify the 20 projects, from within all the projects in the Department’s inventory of proposed projects, that have the highest priority and, for those 20 projects, the relative priority and rank scoring of each such project and the projected cost of such project (including the projected operating costs, including both recurring and nonrecurring costs). The 20 projects shall be compiled, and their relative rankings shall be shown, by category of project (including the categories of ambulatory care projects, nursing home care projects, and such other categories as the Secretary determines).
(2)
The Secretary shall include in each report, for each project listed, a description of the specific factors that account for the relative ranking of that project in relation to other projects within the same category.
(3)
In a case in which the relative ranking of a proposed project has changed since the last report under this subsection was submitted, the Secretary shall also include in the report a description of the reasons for the change in the ranking, including an explanation of any change in the scoring of the project under the Department’s scoring system for proposed major medical construction projects.