**Health Care Benefits for Certain Children of Vietnam Veterans**

**Spina Bifida and Covered Birth Defects**

*Source for §§17.900--17.905* --- 62 FR 51284, Sept. 30, 1997,

unless otherwise indicated.

**§17.900 Definitions.**

For purposes of §§17.900 through 17.905:

*Approved health care provider* means a health care provider currently
approved by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),
Department of Defense TRICARE Program, Civilian Health and Medical
Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA), Joint
Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO), or
currently approved for providing health care under a license or
certificate issued by a governmental entity with jurisdiction. An entity
or individual will be deemed to be an approved health care provider only
when acting within the scope of the approval, license, or certificate.

*Child* for purposes of spina bifida means the same as *individual* as
defined at §3.814(c)(2) or §3.815(c)(2) of this title and for purposes
of covered birth defects means the same as *individual* as defined at
§3.815(c)(2) of this title.

*Covered birth defect* means the same as defined at §3.815(c)(3) of this
title and also includes complications or medical conditions that are
associated with the covered birth defect(s) according to the scientific
literature.

*Habilitative and rehabilitative care* means such professional,
counseling, and guidance services and such treatment programs (other
than vocational training under 38 U.S.C. 1804 or 1814) as are necessary
to develop, maintain, or restore, to the maximum extent practicable, the
functioning of a disabled person.

*Health care* means home care, hospital care, nursing home care,
outpatient care, preventive care, habilitative and rehabilitative care,
case management, and respite care; and includes the training of
appropriate members of a child's family or household in the care of the
child; and the provision of such pharmaceuticals, supplies (including
continence-related supplies such as catheters, pads, and diapers),
equipment (including durable medical equipment), devices, appliances,
assistive technology, direct transportation costs to and from approved
health care providers (including any necessary costs for meals and
lodging en route, and accompaniment by an attendant or attendants), and
other materials as the Secretary determines necessary.

*Health care provider* means any entity or individual that furnishes
health care, including specialized clinics, health care plans, insurers,
organizations, and institutions.

*Home care* means medical care, habilitative and rehabilitative care,
preventive health services, and health-related services furnished to a
child in the child's home or other place of residence.

*Hospital care* means care and treatment furnished to a child who has
been admitted to a hospital as a patient.

*Nursing home care* means care and treatment furnished to a child who
has been admitted to a nursing home as a resident.

*Outpatient ca*re means care and treatment, including preventive health
services, furnished to a child other than hospital care or nursing home
care.

*Preventive care* means care and treatment furnished to prevent
disability or illness, including periodic examinations, immunizations,
patient health education, and such other services as the Secretary
determines necessary to provide effective and economical preventive
health care.

*Respite care* means care furnished by an approved health care provider
on an intermittent basis for a limited period to an individual who
resides primarily in a private residence when such care will help the
individual continue residing in such private residence.

*Spina bifida* means all forms and manifestations of spina bifida except
spina bifida occulta (this includes complications or medical conditions
that are associated with spina bifida according to the scientific
literature).

*Vietnam veteran* for purposes of spina bifida means the same as defined
at §3.814(c)(1) or §3.815(c)(1) of this title and for purposes of
covered birth defects means the same as defined at §3.815(c)(1) of this
title. (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 101(2), 1802-1803, 1811-1813, 1821)

\[62 FR 51284, Sept. 30, 1997, as amended at 68 FR 1010, Jan. 8, 2003\]

**Supplement *Highlights* reference**: 13(1)