110 HR 2179 IH: To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the
U.S. House of Representatives
2007-05-03
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.Traumatic brain injury
centers
(a)Subchapter
II of chapter 73 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by inserting after
section 7320 the following new section:
7320A.Centers for
traumatic brain injury research, education, and clinical activities
(a)The
purpose of this section is to provide for the improvement of the provision of
health care to eligible veterans with traumatic brain injuries through—
(1)the conduct of
research (including research on improving facilities of the Department
concentrating on traumatic brain injury care and on improving the delivery of
traumatic brain injury care by the Department);
(2)the education and
training of health care personnel of the Department; and
(3)the development of
improved models and systems for the furnishing of traumatic brain injury care
by the Department.
(b)(1)The Secretary shall
establish and operate centers for traumatic brain injury research, education,
and clinical activities. Such centers shall be established and operated by
collaborating Department facilities as provided in subsection (c)(1). Each such
center shall function as a center for—
(A)research on traumatic brain
injury;
(B)the use by the Department of specific
models for furnishing traumatic brain injury care;
(C)education and training of health-care
professionals of the Department; and
(D)the development and implementation of
innovative clinical activities and systems of care with respect to the delivery
of traumatic brain injury care by the Department.
(2)The Secretary shall, upon the
recommendation of the Under Secretary for Health, designate the centers under
this section. In making such designations, the Secretary shall ensure that the
centers designated are located in various geographic regions of the United
States. The Secretary may designate a center under this section only if—
(A)the proposal submitted for the
designation of the center meets the requirements of subsection (c);
(B)the Secretary makes the finding
described in subsection (d); and
(C)the peer review panel established
under subsection (e) makes the determination specified in subsection (e)(3)
with respect to that proposal.
(3)Not more than five centers may be
designated under this section.
(4)The authority of the Secretary to
establish and operate centers under this section is subject to the
appropriation of funds for that purpose.
(c)Proposals for
designation of centersA proposal submitted for the designation
of a center under this section shall—
(1)provide for close
collaboration in the establishment and operation of the center, and for the
provision of care and the conduct of research and education at the center, by a
Department facility or facilities in the same geographic area which have a
mission centered on traumatic brain injury care and a Department facility in
that area which has a mission of providing tertiary medical care;
(2)provide that no
less than 50 percent of the funds appropriated for the center for support of
clinical care, research, and education will be provided to the collaborating
facility or facilities that have a mission centered on traumatic brain injury
care; and
(3)provide for a
governance arrangement between the collaborating Department facilities which
ensures that the center will be established and operated in a manner aimed at
improving the quality of traumatic brain injury care at the collaborating
facility or facilities which have a mission centered on traumatic brain injury
care.
(d)The finding referred to in subsection (b)(2)(B) with
respect to a proposal for designation of a site as a location of a center under
this section is a finding by the Secretary, upon the recommendation of the
Under Secretary for Health, that the facilities submitting the proposal have
developed (or may reasonably be anticipated to develop) each of the
following:
(1)An arrangement
with an accredited medical school that provides education and training in
traumatic brain injury care and with which one or more of the participating
Department facilities is affiliated under which medical residents receive
education and training in traumatic brain injury care through regular rotation
through the participating Department facilities so as to provide such residents
with training in the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injury.
(2)An arrangement
under which nursing, social work, counseling, or allied health personnel
receive training and education in traumatic brain injury care through regular
rotation through the participating Department facilities.
(3)The ability to
attract scientists who have demonstrated achievement in research—
(A)into the
evaluation of innovative approaches to the design of traumatic brain injury
care; or
(B)into the causes,
prevention, and treatment of traumatic brain injury.
(4)The capability to
evaluate effectively the activities of the center, including activities
relating to the evaluation of specific efforts to improve the quality and
effectiveness of traumatic brain injury care provided by the Department at or
through individual facilities.
(e)(1)In
order to provide advice to assist the Secretary and the Under Secretary for
Health to carry out their responsibilities under this section, the official
within the central office of the Veterans Health Administration responsible for
traumatic brain injury care shall establish a peer review panel to assess the
scientific and clinical merit of proposals that are submitted to the Secretary
for the designation of centers under this section.
(2)The panel shall consist of experts in
the fields of traumatic brain injury research, education and training, and
clinical care. Members of the panel shall serve as consultants to the
Department.
(3)The panel shall review each proposal
submitted to the panel by the official referred to in paragraph (1) and shall
submit to that official its views on the relative scientific and clinical merit
of each such proposal. The panel shall specifically determine with respect to
each such proposal whether that proposal is among those proposals which have
met the highest competitive standards of scientific and clinical merit.
(4)The panel shall not be subject to the
Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).
(f)Clinical and scientific investigation activities at each
center established under this section—
(1)may compete for
the award of funding from amounts appropriated for the Department of Veterans
Affairs medical and prosthetics research account; and
(2)shall receive
priority in the award of funding from such account insofar as funds are awarded
to projects and activities relating to traumatic brain injury.
(g)Dissemination of
useful informationThe Under Secretary for Health shall ensure
that information produced by the research, education and training, and clinical
activities of centers established under this section that may be useful for
other activities of the Veterans Health Administration is disseminated
throughout the Veterans Health Administration. Such dissemination shall be made
through publications, through programs of continuing medical and related
education provided through regional medical education centers under subchapter
VI of chapter 74 of this title, and through other means. Such programs of
continuing medical education shall receive priority in the award of
funding.
(h)The official within the central office of the Veterans
Health Administration responsible for traumatic brain injury care shall be
responsible for supervising the operation of the centers established pursuant
to this section and shall provide for ongoing evaluation of the centers and
their compliance with the requirements of this section.
(i)Authorization of
appropriations(1)There are authorized to
be appropriated to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the basic support of
the research and education and training activities of centers established
pursuant to this section such sums as may be necessary.
(2)In addition to funds appropriated for
a fiscal year pursuant to the authorization of appropriations in paragraph (1),
the Under Secretary for Health shall allocate to such centers from other funds
appropriated for that fiscal year generally for the Department of Veterans
Affairs medical services account and the Department of Veterans Affairs medical
and prosthetics research account such amounts as the Under Secretary for Health
determines appropriate to carry out the purposes of this section.
(j)Not later than February 1 of each year the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the
Senate and House of Representatives a report on the status and activities of
the centers for traumatic brain injury research, education, and clinical
activities during the preceding fiscal year. Each such report shall include the
following:
(1)A description of
the activities carried out at each center and the funding provided by the
Department for such activities.
(2)A description of
the advances made at each of the participating facilities of the center in
research, education and training, and clinical activities relating to traumatic
brain injury care and treatment.
(3)A description of
the actions taken by the Under Secretary for Health pursuant to subsection (g)
to disseminate information derived from such activities throughout the Veterans
Health Administration.
(4)The evaluation of
the Secretary as to the effectiveness of the centers in fulfilling the purposes
of this
section.
.
(b)The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter
is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 7320 the following
new item:
7320A. Centers for traumatic brain injury
research, education, and clinical
activities.
.