S. 3992 — Joint Medical Facilities Fund Act of 2026

This section codifies the Joint Medical Facility Fund (Fund) as a new section (10 U.S.C. §1110c) on the books of the Treasury under the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to facilitate joint funding of designated combined Federal medical facilities of the Department of Defense (DoD) and VA. (As background, the Fund enables shared operations at joint facilities such as the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, which combines the North Chicago VA Medical Center, Navy Ambulatory Care Center, and supporting facilities.) The section specifies that (1) transfers to the Fund may be made from DoD and VA appropriations based on a joint methodology reflecting mission-specific activities, workload, and costs, and from medical care collections under 10 U.S.C. §1095, 38 U.S.C. §1729, and the Federal Medical Care Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. §2651 et seq.); (2) Fund amounts are available for facility operations, capital equipment, real property maintenance, and minor construction not requiring specific authorization under 10 U.S.C. §2805 or 38 U.S.C. §8104, generally until the end of the first fiscal year after transfer (with up to 2% available until the end of the second fiscal year), subject to 38 U.S.C. §1729A for collections; and (3) the Fund must be administered via an executive agreement between the DoD and VA Secretaries consistent with section 706 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (P.L. 110-417), including independent review of the transfer methodology and integrated financial reconciliation identifying each department's contributions. This section also repeals section 1704 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (P.L. 111-84), as amended, which previously provided temporary authority for the Fund. Finally, this section requires the DoD and VA Secretaries to jointly report to specified Senate and House committees within 180 days of enactment identifying medical facilities suitable for designation as combined Federal medical facilities.