Brain Injury Blog | Traumatic Brain Injury TBI

On Thursday, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee approved provisions contained in S. 2921, The Caring for Wounded Warriors Act, S. 2921. BIAA has strongly supported and endorsed this legislation, and several recommendations made by BIAA during the legislative drafting process were incorporated into the bill. Continue Reading »

In other developments, the Senate passed by voice vote on Tuesday a package of veterans’ mental health bills. This package included legislation endorsed by BIAA which authorizes the establishment of six VA Epilepsy Centers of Excellence (Epilepsy CoEs) across the country to lead the way in epilepsy diagnosis, research, treatment and surgery. The House Veterans Affairs Health Subcommittee passed an amended version of the bill’s companion in the House, H.R. 2818, on Thursday. Continue Reading »

An amendment related to the war supplemental bill passed by the House earlier this week contained a provision, strongly supported by the Brain Injury Association of America, which would delay implementation of seven Bush administration Medicaid regulations. Continue Reading »

Also this week, a report was released by the Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General which found that the VA is not providing the necessary standard of support and long-term follow-up assistance needed by veterans with TBI and their families. Continue Reading »

Also this week, BIAA submitted a Comment Letter on a Proposed Rule by the Department of Veterans Affairs to overhaul the Schedule for Rating Disability when it comes to TBI.

Although BIAA’s letter acknowledges that the Proposed Rule constitutes an improvement from current regulations, it also communicates several concerns and suggestions for further improvement of the disability ratings system in regards to TBI.

To view a copy of BIAA’s Comment Letter to the VA, please visit our website at http://www.biausa.org/policyissues.htm.

President Bush signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (H.R. 4986), containing important wounded warrior provisions related to TBI care which BIAA actively lobbied for last year, into law on Monday.

One of BIAA’s policy goals for 2008 will be to monitor the implementation of the important TBI provisions contained in this bill. (The December 14, 2007 edition of Policy Corner contains more detailed information on these TBI provisions. You can access this issue, as well as all other archived issues of Policy Corner, by visiting BIAA’s webpage at http://www.biausa.org/policycorner.htm).

In a related development, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) expressed disappointment that the President did not publicly acknowledge the full implications of the wounded warrior provisions contained in this bill. Hours after signing the bill, in his State of the Union speech, President Bush called on Congress to enact recommendations made by the Dole-Shalala Commission to “improve the system of care for our wounded warriors.” Yet, many of the Commission’s recommendations were addressed in the defense authorization bill.

“It’s kind of surprising, and I think it creates an impression that there’s work that’s still ahead of us, when much of it was done in record time,” Levin said, in a Jan. 30 article in CQ Today.

According to CQ Today, in response to Sen. Levin’s comments, the White House pointed to a major revision of the veterans’ disability system which remains to be acted upon.

The study is the military’s first large-scale effort to gauge the effect of mild head injuries that some experts worry may be causing a host of undiagnosed neurological deficiencies.
Read More Here…

Earlier this week, Sen. Michael B. Enzi (R-WY) unveiled, “Guidelines for Assisting Those with Accessibility Needs,” a manual designed to make congressional offices more accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Through the hard work of Robert Demichelis, BIAA helped provide suggestions for the guide, which was distributed to all House and Senate offices.

In a “Dear Colleague” letter introducing the guide to Members of Congress and their staff, Sen. Enzi states, “Ensuring our ability to interact and assist [individuals who have accessibility needs] requires that we are prepared in advance to meet their needs with everything from the appropriate language and basic etiquette, to ensuring they are included in our emergency preparedness plans and provided for in our accessible room designs.”

Also this week, negotiations focused on putting together an economic stimulus package, resulting in a bipartisan agreement by the week’s end, although the Senate is expected to possibly bring up further amendments during its consideration of the package in coming weeks.

BIAA signed on to a coalition letter urging House and Senate leaders to temporarily raise Medicaid reimbursement to states in order to prevent states from being forced to make cutbacks in essential state services. Such essential Medicaid services include health care and long-term services and supports, which are often especially important to individuals with disabilities.

Traumatic brain injury, often described as the “silent epidemic” of the Iraq war, may be less to blame for soldiers’ symptoms than doctors once thought, contends a provocative military study that suggests post-traumatic stress and depression often play a role.

Read More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22904216/