116 STAT. 2596 PUBLIC LAW 107-314—DEC. 2, 2002 (A) one or more military treatment facilities and one or more VA health care facilities are situated in relative proximity to each other, including facilities engaged in joint ventures as of the date of the enactment of this Act; and (B) for which an agreement to coordinate care and programs for patients at those facilities could be implemented not later than October 1, 2004. (c) CONDUCT OF PROJECT. —(1) At sites at which the project is conducted, the Secretaries shall provide a test of a coordinated management system for the military treatment facilities and VA health care facilities participating in the project. Such a coordinated management system for a site shall include at least one of the elements specified in paragraph (2), and each of the elements specified in that paragraph must be included in the coordinated management system for at least one of the participating sites. (2) Elements of a coordinated management system referred to in paragraph (1) are the following: (A) A budget and financial management system for those facilities that— (i) provides managers with information about the costs of providing health care by both Departments at the site; and (ii) allows managers to assess the advantages and disadvantages (in terms of relative costs, benefits, and opportunities) of using resources of either Department to provide or enhance health care to beneficiaries of either Department. (B) A coordinated staffing and assignment system for the personnel (including contract personnel) employed at or assigned to those facilities, including clinical practitioners of either Department. (C) Medical information and information technology systems for those facilities that— (i) are compatible with the purposes of the project; (ii) communicate with medical information and information technology systems of corresponding elements of those facilities; and (iii) incorporate minimum standards of information quality that are at least equivalent to those adopted for the Departments at large in their separate health care systems. (d) AUTHORITY TO WAIVE CERTAIN ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES.— (1)(A) In order to carry out subsection (c), the Secretary of Defense may, in the Secretary's discretion, waive any administrative policy of the Department of Defense otherwise applicable to that subsection that specifically conflicts with the purposes of the project, in instances in which the Secretary determines that the waiver is necessary for the purposes of the project. (B) In order to carry out subsection (c), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs may, in the Secretary's discretion, waive any administrative policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs otherwise applicable to that subsection that specifically conflicts with the purposes of the project, in instances in which the Secretary determines that the waiver is necessary for the purposes of the project. (C) The two Secretaries shall establish procedures for resolving disputes that may arise from the effects of policy changes that are not covered by other agreements or existing procedures.
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