PUBLIC LAW 102-40—MAY 7, 1991 105 STAT. 197 Veterans Affairs Physician and Dentist Recruitment and Retention Act of 1991) shall be considered as annual pay for the purposes of chapter 87 of title 5, relating to life insurance for Federal employees. "§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 President. 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 49-194O-92- 8:QL.3Part1
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