
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 38USC7439]

 
                      TITLE 38--VETERANS' BENEFITS
 
              PART V--BOARDS, ADMINISTRATIONS, AND SERVICES
 
          CHAPTER 74--VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION--PERSONNEL
 
         SUBCHAPTER III--SPECIAL PAY FOR PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS
 
Sec. 7439. Periodic review of pay of physicians and dentists; 
        quadrennial report
        
    (a) In order to make possible the recruitment and retention of a 
well-qualified work force of physicians and dentists capable of 
providing quality care for eligible veterans, it is the policy of 
Congress to ensure that the levels of total pay for physicians and 
dentists of the Veterans Health Administration are fixed at levels 
reasonably comparable--
        (1) with the levels of total pay of physicians and dentists 
    employed by or serving in other departments and agencies of the 
    Federal Government; and
        (2) with the income of non-Federal physicians and dentists for 
    the performance of services as physicians and dentists.

    (b)(1) To assist the Congress and the President in carrying out the 
policy stated in subsection (a), the Secretary shall--
        (A) define the bases for pay distinctions, if any, among various 
    categories of physicians and dentists, including distinctions 
    between physicians and dentists employed by the Veterans Health 
    Administration and physicians and dentists employed by other 
    departments and agencies of the Federal Government and between all 
    Federal sector and non-Federal sector physicians and dentists; and
        (B) obtain measures of income from the employment or practice of 
    physicians and dentists outside the Administration, including both 
    the Federal and non-Federal sectors, for use as guidelines for 
    setting and periodically adjusting the amounts of special pay for 
    physicians and dentists of the Administration.

    (2) The Secretary shall submit to the President a report, on such 
date as the President may designate but not later than December 31, 
1994, and once every four years thereafter, recommending appropriate 
rates of special pay to carry out the policy set forth in subsection (a) 
with respect to the pay of physicians and dentists in the Veterans 
Health Administration. The Secretary shall include in such report, when 
considered appropriate and necessary by the Secretary, recommendations 
for modifications of the special pay levels set forth in this subchapter 
whenever--
        (A) the Department is unable to recruit or retain a sufficient 
    work force of well-qualified physicians and dentists in the 
    Administration because the incomes and other employee benefits, to 
    the extent that those benefits are reasonably quantifiable, of 
    physicians and dentists outside the Administration who perform 
    comparable types of duties are significantly in excess of the levels 
    of total pay (including basic pay and special pay) and other 
    employee benefits, to the extent that those benefits are reasonably 
    quantifiable, available to those physicians and dentists employed by 
    the Administration; or
        (B) other extraordinary circumstances are such that special pay 
    levels are needed to recruit or retain a sufficient number of well-
    qualified physicians and dentists.

    (c) The President shall include in the budget transmitted to the 
Congress under section 1105 of title 31 after the submission of each 
report of the Secretary under subsection (b)(2) recommendations with 
respect to the exact rates of special pay for physicians and dentists 
under this subchapter and the cost of those rates compared with the cost 
of the special pay rates in effect under this subchapter at the time the 
budget is transmitted.

(Added Pub. L. 102-40, title I, Sec. 102, May 7, 1991, 105 Stat. 197.)


                            Prior Provisions

    Provisions similar to those in this subchapter were contained in 
section 4118 of this title prior to the repeal of that section as part 
of the complete revision of chapter 73 of this title by Pub. L. 102-40.


                             Effective Date

    Section effective on first day of first pay period after July 1, 
1991, subject to transition and savings provisions and prohibition on 
retroactive agreements, see section 104 of Pub. L. 102-40, set out as a 
note under section 7431 of this title.
