[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 38, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 38CFR17.53]

[Page 603]
 
            TITLE 38--PENSIONS, BONUSES, AND VETERANS' RELIEF
 
                CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
 
PART 17--MEDICAL--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 17.53  Limitations on use of public or private hospitals.

    The admission of any patient to a private or public hospital at 
Department of Veterans Affairs expense will only be authorized if a 
Department of Veterans Affairs medical center or other Federal facility 
to which the patient would otherwise be eligible for admission is not 
feasibly available. A Department of Veterans Affairs facility may be 
considered as not feasibly available when the urgency of the applicant's 
medical condition, the relative distance of the travel involved, or the 
nature of the treatment required makes it necessary or economically 
advisable to use public or private facilities. In those instances where 
care in public or private hospitals at Department of Veterans Affairs 
expense is authorized because a Department of Veterans Affairs or other 
Federal facility was not feasibly available, as defined in this section, 
the authorization will be continued after admission only for the period 
of time required to stabilize or improve the patient's condition to the 
extent that further care is no longer required to satisfy the purpose 
for which it was initiated.

[39 FR 17223, May 14, 1974, as amended at 47 FR 58248, Dec. 30, 1982. 
Redesignated at 61 FR 21965, May 13, 1996]