PUBLIC LAW 102-585—NOV. 4, 1992 106 STAT. 4961 (2) An assessment by the Secretary of the feasibility and desirability of providing telephones for patients in other healthcare facilities of the Department. (3) The experience of ihe Secretary in using, and an assessment by the Secretary of the feasibility and cost effectiveness of, alternative arrangements to the expenditure of appropriated funds for securing telephone service for patients ui healthcare facilities of the Department. (4) Any additional information and recommendations with respect to the provision and use of patient telephones at Department health-care facilities as the Secretary considers appropriate. SEC. Sae. USE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS IN DEPARTMENT FACILITIE& 38 USC 1715 (a) IN GENERAL. — The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall take appropriate actions to ensure that, consistent with medic&l requirements and limitations, each facility of the Department described in subsection (b)— (1) establishes and maintains— (A) a suitable indoor area in which patients or residents may smoke and which is ventilated in a manner that, to the maximum extent feasible, prevents smoke from entering other aiecus of the facility; or (B) an area in a building that—• (i) is detached from the facility; (ii) is accessible to patients or residents of the facility; and (iii) has appropriate heating and air conditioning; and (2) provides accciss to an area established and maintained under paragraph (1), consistent with medical requirements and limitations, for patients or residents of the facility who are receiving care or services and who desire to smoke tobacco products. (b) COVERED FACILITIES. — ^A Department facility referred to in subsection (a) is any Department of Veterans Affairs medical center, nursing home, or domiciliary care facility. (c) REPORTS. —(1) Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives a report on the feasibility of the establishment and maintenance of areas for smoking in Department facilities under this section. The report shall include information on— (A) the cost of, and a proposed schedule for, the establishment of such an area at each Department facility covered by this section; (B) the extent to which the ventilating system of each facility is adequate to ensure that use of the area for smoking does not result in health problems for other patients or residents of the facility; and (C) the effect of the establishment and maintenance of an area for smoking in each facility on the accreditation score issued for the facility by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Organizations. (2) Not later than 120 days after the effective date of this section, the Secretary shall submit to the committees referred to in paragraph (1) a report on the implementation of this section.
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