((a)) The Secretary may furnish medical, rehabilitative, and health-related services in noninstitutional settings for veterans who are eligible under this chapter for, and are in need of, nursing home care. The Secretary shall give priority for participation in such program to veterans who—

((1)) are in receipt of, or are in need of, nursing home care primarily for the treatment of a service-connected disability; or

((2)) have a service-connected disability rated at 50 percent or more.

((b))

((1)) Under the program conducted pursuant to subsection (a), the Secretary shall (A) furnish appropriate health-related services solely through contracts with appropriate public and private agencies that provide such services, and (B) designate Department health-care employees to furnish case management services to veteran furnished services under the program.

((2)) For the purposes of paragraph (1), the term “case management services” includes the coordination and facilitation of all services furnished to a veteran by the Department of Veterans Affairs, either directly or through contract, including assessment of needs, planning, referral (including referral for services to be furnished by the Department, either directly or through a contract, or by an entity other than the Department), monitoring, reassessment, and followup.

((c)) The Secretary may provide in-kind assistance (through the services of Department of Veterans Affairs employees and the sharing of other Department resources) to a facility furnishing services to veterans under subsection (b)(1)(A). Any such in-kind assistance shall be provided under a contract between the Department and the facility concerned. The Secretary may provide such assistance only for use solely in the furnishing of appropriate services under this section and only if, under such contract, the Department receives reimbursement for the full cost of such assistance (including the cost of services and supplies and normal depreciation and amortization of equipment). Such reimbursement may be made by reduction in the charges to the United States or by payment to the United States. Any funds received through such reimbursement shall be credited to funds allotted to the Department facility that provided the assistance.

((d))

((1)) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the total cost of providing services or in-kind assistance in the case of any veteran for any fiscal year under the program may not exceed 100 percent of the cost that would have been incurred by the Department during that fiscal year if the veteran had been furnished, instead, nursing home care under during that fiscal year.

((2))

((A)) The total cost of providing services or in-kind assistance in the case of any veteran described in subparagraph (B) for any fiscal year under the program may exceed 100 percent of the cost that would otherwise have been incurred as specified in paragraph (1) if the Secretary determines, based on a consideration of clinical need, geographic market factors, and such other matters as the Secretary may prescribe through regulation, that such higher total cost is in the best interest of the veteran.

((B)) A veteran described in this subparagraph is a veteran with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a spinal cord injury, or a condition the Secretary determines to be similar to such conditions.

((e)) The authority of the Secretary to enter into contracts under this section shall be effective for any fiscal year only to the extent that appropriations are available.

((f)) In furnishing services to a veteran under the program conducted pursuant to subsection (a), if a medical center of the Department through which such program is administered is located in a geographic area in which services are available to the veteran under a PACE program (as such term is defined in sections 1894(a)(2) and 1934(a)(2) of the Social Security Act (; 1396u–4(a)(2))), the Secretary shall seek to enter into an agreement with the PACE program operating in that area for the furnishing of such services.