No Hero Left Untreated Act

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to express my strong support for the significant package of the veteran's bills that we considered in the House both yesterday and today.

As the former Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee (2001 through 2005), I am acutely aware of the challenges our veterans face, especially as they transition from military to civilian life. As Chairman, I authored more than a dozen laws to expand health, education, job training and homelessness benefits for the men and women who served in uniform. Thankfully these laws continue to help our veterans today.

Still, there are new problems and new issues that urgently need our attention. Massive wait times, forged documents by VA officials, ineptitude, lack of equipment and under-staffing at VA medical facilities are just a few of the significant transgressions that have been exposed and are undermining the quality of service and the treatment our veterans receive.

In 2014 and 2016 Congress passed the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act (P.L. 113-146) and the Faster Care for Veterans Act (P.L. 114-286), respectively, to usher in a complete overhaul of VA systems and to institute new technological services for scheduling and in order to secure more timely appointments. Some, but not nearly enough, progress has occurred. Much more must be done.

I commend Chairman Phil Roe, MD and his team at the Veterans Affairs Committee on the package of bills before us this week. All seven will help improve the benefit programs and the delivery of healthcare service for our veterans.

For instance, The Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017 (H.R. 2288) will empower veterans who have been denied benefits to have more options as they pursue their appeals. Under the new bill, vets will be able to waive a hearing and submit additional evidence, pursue a hearing and submit additional evidence, or transfer the jurisdiction of their case to the Board of Veterans Appeals. The new options should help cut through some wait time.

The VA Scheduling Accountability Act (H.R. 467) would require an annual certification of compliance with scheduling directives. Additionally the bill blocks awards and bonuses to any leadership personnel at any medical center that fails to comply with the scheduling directives. Another bill before us, H.R. 1005 would allow the federal government to enter into agreements with state veteran's homes to pay for adult day health care for certain eligible veterans.

The No Hero Left Untreated Act (H.R. 1162) will create a one year pilot program at the VA to use innovative therapy to treat veterans who suffer from invisible wounds, which include post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury (TBI), military sexual trauma, chronic pain, or opiate addiction. As the author of the Veterans Health Programs Improvement Act (P.L. 108-422) which authorized regional veteran polytrauma centers for multiple injuries including TBI, I fully support H.R. 1162 as a way to ensure that the VA is able to adapt to the newest and best practices for treating veterans with these unique traumas and conditions.

The Quicker Veterans Benefits Delivery Act of 2017 (H.R. 1725) will require stronger reporting requirements from the Department of Veterans Affairs regarding the necessity for in-person disability examinations; and the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2017 (H.R. 1329) will increase the cost-of-living-adjustment for disabled veterans who receive compensation to equal the same rate of increase for citizens who receive Social Security in 2018.

Finally, the VA Prescription Data Accountability Act (H.R. 1545) will help combat drug addiction among our veterans by creating better information and data sharing between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the states' recording programs.

Mr. Speaker, let me remind my colleagues that while this package of veterans bills marks another step forward, we cannot be lulled into thinking that the Department of Veterans Affairs and the delivery of veterans' benefits and healthcare will be forever fixed simply with the enactment of new legislation, no matter how well written.

Good legislation is the necessary, minimum first step. But equally important is the full and consistent implementation of the new laws, along with regular and aggressive oversight by this Congress. We must be vigilant and continue to push to ensure that all veterans get the care they have earned--at the time they need it--not months or years later.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1162) to direct the Secretary

of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program to provide access to magnetic EEG/EKG-guided resonance therapy to veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1162, a bill to expand the use of EEG/EKG-guided magnetic resonance therapy to treat veterans with PTSD, traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, chronic pain, and opiate addiction at VA medical centers.

A 2016 VA report found that mental health conditions and substance abuse among veterans is alarmingly high and steadily on the rise, up from 27 percent in 2001 to over 40 percent in 2014. Perhaps even more alarming, the same report showed that VA has increased its use of prescription opioids by 259 percent over the same period to treat these invisible wounds.

Magnetic resonance therapy, or MRT, is an emerging technology that has been used to treat over 400 veterans with symptoms of their mental conditions. MRT uses quantitative electroencephalogram, electrocardiogram technology to target the affected areas of the brain and apply repetitive magnetic stimulation to return normal function to those areas.

MRT has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat depression, and a 2015 study found that veterans who underwent 2 weeks of treatment for PTSD reported an average of 47.4 percent reduction in symptom severity. After 4 weeks of treatment, veteran participants saw a 64 percent reduction in symptom severity on average. The same study showed zero reports of worsening symptoms or adverse effects from the treatment.

H.R. 1162 would create a 1-year pilot at two VA facilities during which 50 veterans would be provided MRT treatment for PTSD, traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, chronic pain, and opioid addiction.

Ninety days after the end of the pilot, the Secretary of the VA would issue a report to Congress on the efficacy of the pilot.

Mr. Speaker, with such promising results from preliminary tests of MRT technology, I believe that we must act quickly to make this emerging technology available to more veterans suffering from the invisible wounds of war.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Knight), my good friend and fellow Army veteran, for sponsoring this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1162, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Knight), the sponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, encourage all Members to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and the ranking member for their leadership on all veteran issues.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 1162, the No Hero Left Untreated Act. I rise today to stand with our Nation's veterans for whom the trauma from the battlefield does not always appear. Whether it is PTS, TBI, MST, chronic pain, or opioid drugs addiction, the pilot program established by this bill would provide an innovative individualized treatment for all-too-common diagnoses that our veterans face today.

Using a suite of FDA-approved medical tools, the magnetic EEG/EKG- guided resonance therapy, or MeRT, is a nonpharmaceutical and noninvasive procedure that has already shown great promise. This bill requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish the pilot program, treat 50 veterans using MeRT at two different VA locations, and then come back with a report at the end of that.

Already at the Brain Treatment Center in California, 98 percent of veterans in recent trials have experienced at least a 10-point change in their military PTSD checklist, or PCL-M, which ranges from 17 to 80.

The Active-Duty military has already begun clinical trials using the MeRT procedure at Tinker Air Force Base, concluding that ``transcranial MeRT is a promising adjuvant treatment modality to help veterans suffering from PTSD.'' In fact, after 4 weeks of active treatment, MeRT reduced the average PCL-M score from 66 to 37.

U.S. Special Operations Command has also funded their own trials using the Brain Treatment Center's treatment modality and is conducting research at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida and Naval Special Warfare Command in my home State of California.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record letters of support for H.R. 1162 from AMVETS, the Veterans Health Council, the Association of the United States Navy, Veterans Advantage, The Patriot Project, Lines for Life, the National Foundation for Women Legislators, the PsychArmor Institute, STEADFAST Leadership, and the WestCare Foundation.

Mr. Speaker, in a time when the Defense Department maintains technological superiority over our adversaries in combat, our Veterans Affairs Department must continue to push the technological limit to treating our selfless servicemembers once their duty is done.

I am optimistic that this pilot program for our veteran population will be the first of many that improves our ability to heal wounded veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I will leave my colleagues with one last quote. As the AMVETS' executive director stated in his letter of support for this bill: ``It is imperative that we, as a nation, look at new ways to help those who have stood up and walked the walk, and suffer the consequences day after day.''

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1162. With all of the things that you heard the chairman talk about and substance abuse disorder on the rise, the VA should continue to explore the benefits of alternative treatments and how best to provide care to our veterans.

Medical providers must think outside of the box and find effective ways to treat the symptoms a veteran is experiencing, and do so in a way that does not compromise a veteran's health, relationships, and progress towards a successful transition home.

Mr. Speaker, for this reason, I would ask my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation and start moving in a direction that serves our veterans with the best treatment for them.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Knight) for his innovative approach in trying to get services to our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to join us in passing H.R. 1162.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from consideration of H.R. 1162 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.