Brain Injury Blog | Traumatic Brain Injury TBI

BIAA recently signed on to a coalition letter urging Congress to enact a moratorium on a regulation proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to restrict Medicaid reimbursement for outpatient services. This regulation is termed the “Medicaid Outpatient Clinic and Hospital Services Rule,” and it would reduce federal Medicaid funding to states for freestanding health clinics and hospital outpatient departments. Continue Reading »

Despite little progress on appropriations so far this year, the House of Representatives was able to pass its version of the Fiscal 2009 Military Construction-VA spending bill (H.R. 6599) by a vote of 409-4 on August 1, 2008. Continue Reading »

On Wednesday, April 2, the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on TBI Related Vision Issues.

Testimony highlighted the high rate of vision disturbances in cases of servicemembers returing from Iraq and Afghanistan with TBI, and the need for a seamless system of care within the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs to address these eye injuries, including greater use of specialized vision screening.

In the hearing, the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) noted research showing that 75 percent of servicemembers with documented TBI injuries also have complaints about vision problems, and that approximately 60 percent of those injured have associated neurological visual disorders.  A study conducted by one of the panelists, Gregory L. Goodrich, who is a research psychologist at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, found that both Polytrauma Level I and Level II patients had high rates of visual impairment and/or visual dysfunction, and that injuries caused by a blast event were associated with more vision related loss and/or deficits than other causes.

In his testimony, Tom Zampieri, Director of Government Relations at BVA, asserted, “At present the current system of screening, treatment, tracking, and follow-up care for TBI vision dysfunction is inadequate.  Adding visual dysfunction to this complex mix, especially if undiagnosed, makes attempts at rehabilitation even more daunting and potentially disastrous unless there are significant improvements soon.”

Mr. Zampieri urged the Subcommittee to request that DoD/VA provide for the full implementation of the “Military Eye Trauma Center of Excellence and Eye Trauma Registry,” which was recently authorized as one of the Wounded Warrior provisions in last year’s defense authorization bill (H.R. 4986).  BIAA has officially endorsed legislation (S. 1999) to create such a Center.

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/

The House of Representatives returned to session this week, and promptly voted to pass a revised version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (H.R. 4986) to replace the version (H.R. 1585) vetoed by President Bush late last month. Important wounded warrior provisions related to TBI care, and championed by BIAA, remain unchanged in the new version.

The Senate is expected to pass the revised bill when it returns to session next week.

The revised bill contains new language altering a provision in the original bill which expanded the rights of victims to sue foreign governments designated by the State Department as state sponsors of terrorism.

The White House unexpectedly announced on December 28, 2007, that President Bush would not sign the original bill because it included a provision which could allow plaintiffs to freeze Iraq government assets in the United States while their claims against Iraq were being litigated (Iraq was listed as a state sponsor of terrorism under Saddam Hussein’s regime).

As stress from increased family and work demands has built nationwide, more people are willing to turn to professionals for help.

Universities, advocacy groups and employers have encouraged mental-health counseling, and the profession now is booming in Illinois.

Continue Reading »

Minutes ago the Lubbock Medical Examiner’s office released the autopsy report for Juan Nunez III. He was the 27-year-old Lubbock man who died the night of April 16th after he was tased by Lubbock Police officer Matt Doherty.

Continue Reading »

Client, therapist lament end of reimbursement for telephone counseling
By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau
Click byline for more stories by writer.
First published: Monday, May 8, 2006
ALBANY — Peter Kahrmann will never forget the faint sound he heard before his life irrevocably changed almost 22 years ago on a dark Brooklyn street, as he headed for his 5 a.m. shift as a cabdriver.

Continue Reading »

Brain Injury Awareness Month — March 2006

Brain Injury Awareness Month was established to increase public awareness of brain injuries and their consequences and to address the needs of persons living with brain injuries, their family members, and caregivers. Each year in the United States, approximately 1.4 million persons sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI); of these persons, approximately 50,000 die, 235,000 are hospitalized, and 1.1 million are treated and released from emergency departments (1). In addition, according to a 1999 report, an estimated 5.3 million persons in the United States have a long-term or lifelong need for help in performing activities of daily living as a result of a TBI (2).

Continue Reading »

Emotional distress following a traumatic brain injury can be both real and debilitating. Often times, severe emotional distress will mimic many of the characteristics of organic brain dysfunction. It is the treatment that differs in each case, however.

Continue Reading »