Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Care Improvement Act of 2014

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Traumatic brain injury has become a signature wound of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. These conflicts have caused hundreds of thousands of servicemembers to sustain TBIs.

The Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act extended the pilot program on assisted living services for veterans with TBI until October 2017. This pilot has helped nearly 200 veterans with moderate to severe brain injuries, and this program fills a treatment need which residential VA facilities currently cannot handle.

H.R. 4276 will improve the reporting requirements for the TBI assisted living pilot program so that we can better gauge its success and expand the definition of community-based residential rehabilitative services so that veterans with TBI have other residential and home- based assisted living options.

Congress has provided significant resources for this program, currently approaching $30 million per year. Reports show that veterans believe this is a successful and popular program, but we in Congress must provide vital oversight so that innovative pilot programs meet our veterans' needs. This is why we need better data on the cost and benefits of this program to veterans.

This bill will require the VA to submit detailed quarterly reports on this pilot program. I believe that these increased reporting requirements will ensure that the VA is providing the best rehabilitative services for our veterans with TBI.

Earlier this year, I held a field hearing on access to care for veterans with TBI at the VA medical center in Tucson, Arizona. The Tucson VA's polytrauma care unit is one of several VA centers across the country that is at the very forefront of providing care and rehabilitative services for veterans with TBI.

I believe the VA's cutting-edge treatments and its coordinated care for veterans with TBI serve as a model for innovative care that could be expanded to other medical specialties so that the VA may better address the unique health care needs of our veterans.

In the coming months, we must look to fundamentally reform the VA in how it provides benefits and services to veterans. We must look to some of the VA health care delivery programs that show promise, such as the assisted living pilot program, to implement best practices throughout the VA system that will give our veterans the timely, world-class health care they deserve. I look forward to engaging my colleagues and veterans in this goal.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4276, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Brown).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4276, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4276) to extend and modify a pilot program on assisted living services for veterans with traumatic brain injury, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks to H.R. 4276, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4276, as amended, would require the Department of Veterans Affairs, beginning in January, to provide reports to Congress on the pilot program for assisted living services for veterans with traumatic brain injury.

With passage of the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act earlier this year, we were able to extend this important program for another 3 years. As of June 1 of this year, 187 veterans from 46 different facilities in 22 States have been enrolled for services.

These are severely injured veterans who still want to live within their communities. For that reason, this bill also amends the definition of ``assisted living'' to encompass community-based brain injury residential rehabilitative care.

Too often, pilot programs are initiated and abandoned by the VA with little reporting or data analysis as to the effectiveness or efficiency of the program. That is why this bill is important.

It would require the Secretary to provide quarterly reports to Congress on utilization, status, and veteran satisfaction as well as interim assessments as to the success of the program and recommendations for improvement.

It would also require a final report as to how the VA would expect to continue or integrate this pilot into other services that are vital for enhancing the quality of life for those veterans suffering from what has been called one of the signature wounds of recent conflicts, traumatic brain injury, or TBI.

I am grateful to Representative Bill Cassidy, my friend and colleague from Louisiana, for his leadership in introducing this legislation, and I am proud to join him in supporting it.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this important piece of legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana, Representative Bill Cassidy, my friend and colleague and a sponsor of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, we have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I too encourage all Members to support H.R. 4276, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4276, the Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Improvement Act of 2014.

Mr. Speaker, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which have demanded multiple deployments for many of our nation's courageous soldiers, have taken a psychological toll on U.S. service members.

As our brave military men and women fight to defend our great country, they put themselves at risk of combat-related health problems, including traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other brain related maladies.

More than 280,000 United States service members have been diagnosed with a degree of TBI in the past 10 years, and more than 19 percent of veterans may have some form of the disorder.

There is no doubt that these fearless men and women suffering from traumatic brain injuries deserve not only our gratitude, but also our support throughout recovery and treatment.

Thanks to the Assisted Living Pilot Program, these veterans struggling daily with TBI will be provided with 24-hour assisted living help.

Mr. Speaker, our United States veterans bravely put their life on the line to defend our freedoms and to keep our nation safe.

By passing H.R. 4276, veterans combating TBI and PTSD will receive assistance to enhance their rehabilitation, quality of life, and community integration.

The Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Care Act expands the requirements for Veterans Affairs Department reports to affirm the enrollment, completion, and effectiveness of the pilot program.

The community-integrated rehabilitation treatment provided by the pilot program will serve as a vital resource to our veterans as they overcome burdensome health problems.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4276 to show their support and gratitude for the sacrifices made by our service men and women, and to ensure that veterans battling traumatic brain injuries receive the care and rehabilitation they deserve.

Mr. Speaker, over 19 percent of returning veterans suffer from some form of traumatic brain injury.

That is why in March I introduced H.R. 4276 which would extend a VA pilot program to care for those suffering from traumatic brain injury, or TBI, and was pleased when a portion of this bill was included in the Veterans Access to Care Act of 2014.

In addition to extending the program for a longer length of time, my bill also created metrics for determining the success of the program.

I am pleased the House will now vote on the amended portion of my bill which creates more thorough, frequent reporting requirements and expands the definition of ``assisted living'' to encompass broader definitions of care.

The expanded reporting requirements allow for a more thorough determination of how successful this program is in rehabilitating patients suffering from TBI.

I am a doc. I know that, unless you measure something, it will not change. If we measure and find it doing well, hopefully, we expand; if not, we improve it.

It will also measure the satisfaction that the veteran and their family members have with the program. By expanding the definition of ``assisted living,'' the bill also allows for more partnerships to take place with non-VA facilities so that veterans can receive the kind of care that serves their unique needs.

It is our duty as Members of Congress to care for our veterans and ensure they receive the best care available. I thank Chairman Miller for working with me on this legislation.

I appreciate the opportunity to have it considered, and I urge all my colleagues to support it.

I thank the ranking member. This is certainly a bill that I can support.

H.R. 4276 would improve the reporting requirement for the TBI assisted living pilot program so that we can better gauge its success and expansion of the definition of the community-based residential rehabilitation services so that veterans who have TBI have other residential and home-based assisted living options.

I think it is important for us to go back to what the first President of the United States said about any war that we participate in:

``The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justifiable, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country.''

We are not just talking about this on Veterans Day, but about how we treat them and how we support them every day. I think this bill goes a long way to deal with some of the problems that they are experiencing after returning from the last two wars; so this is certainly a bill that I can support.

I want to say may God continue to bless America. I want to thank the veterans for their service--and not just thanking them, but this is really putting your money where your mouth is.