38 U.S.C. § 8213 — Pilot program assistance

(a) Assistance the Secretary may give: Subject to subsection (b), the Secretary may agree to help any college or university that is mainly supported by the state it is in (called an "institution" in this subchapter) start a new medical school. The assistance can include: (1) fixing up buildings — extending, altering, remodeling, improving, or repairing buildings and structures, including equipment provided as part of a lease, so they work as medical school facilities; and (2) grants toward faculty salaries during the school's first 12-month period of operation and the next six such periods, capped at 90 percent of the cost in the first period, 90 percent in the second, 90 percent in the third, 80 percent in the fourth, 70 percent in the fifth, 60 percent in the sixth, and 50 percent in the seventh and eighth periods. (b) Requirements before agreeing: (1) The Secretary cannot enter such an agreement unless satisfied, with assurances built into the agreement, that: (A) there is adequate state or other financial support for the proposed school; (B) the school's overall plans meet whatever professional and other standards the Secretary considers appropriate; (C) the school will keep up arrangements with the Department medical facility it is associated with — including arrangements made under subchapter IV of chapter 81 of this title — that benefit both the facility's mission and the school; and (D) after consulting the accreditation body approved for this purpose by the Secretary of Education, there is reasonable assurance the school will meet that body's accreditation standards within a reasonable time with the agreement's help. (2) Every agreement must also include whatever other terms and conditions the Secretary considers necessary and appropriate to protect the interests of the United States, beyond those already required by section 8201(e) and paragraph (b)(1). (c) Recovering the facilities: If the Secretary determines, under regulations the Secretary prescribes, that a school established with assistance under this chapter (1) is not accredited and fails to gain accreditation within a reasonable time, (2) is accredited but substantially fails to carry out the terms of its agreement, or (3) is no longer operated for the purpose the assistance was granted for, then the Secretary is entitled to recover from the recipient the facilities that were built with that assistance. To recover the facilities, the Secretary may bring an action in the U.S. district court for the district where the facilities are located.