38 U.S.C. § 1729B — Consolidated patient accounting centers

(a) In General .— Not later than five years after the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary^* of Veterans Affairs shall establish not more than seven consolidated patient accounting centers for conducting industry-modeled regionalized billing and collection activities of the Department^*. (b) Functions .— The centers shall carry out the following functions: (1) Reengineer and integrate all business processes of the revenue cycle of the Department. (2) Standardize and coordinate all activities of the Department related to the revenue cycle for all health care services furnished to veterans for non-service-connected^* medical conditions. (3) Apply commercial industry standards for measures of access, timeliness, and performance metrics with respect to revenue enhancement of the Department. (4) Apply other requirements with respect to such revenue cycle improvement as the Secretary may specify.