1.This Act may be cited as
the Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury
Care Improvement Act of 2011
.
2.Report on
establishment of a Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site
of the Department of Veterans Affairs in the northern Rockies or
Dakotas
(a)Congress
makes the following findings:
(1)The States of the
northern Rockies and the Dakotas are among those States in the United States
with the highest per capita rates of veterans with injuries from military
service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(2)Traumatic brain
injury (TBI) has become known as one of the signature wounds
of
military service in Iraq and Afghanistan due to its high occurrence among
veterans of such service.
(3)A recent RAND
Corporation study estimates that as many as 20 percent of the veterans of
military service in Iraq and Afghanistan have a traumatic brain injury as a
result of such service, and many of these veterans require ongoing care for
mild, moderate, or severe traumatic brain injury.
(4)The Department of
Veterans Affairs recommends that all veterans experiencing a polytraumatic
injury be referred to a Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or a Polytrauma
Network Site.
(5)The Department of
Veterans Affairs Polytrauma System of Care includes 4 Polytrauma Rehabilitation
Centers and 22 Polytrauma Network Sites, none of which are located in North
Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Montana, eastern Washington, or Wyoming, an area
that encompasses approximately 740,000 square miles.
(6)The vastness of
this area imposes significant hardships on veterans residing in this area who
require care within the Department of Veterans Affairs Polytrauma System of
Care and wish to live close to home while receiving care within such system of
care.
(b)
(1)Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment
of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress a
report on the feasibility and advisability of establishing a Polytrauma
Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site for the Department of Veterans
Affairs in the northern Rockies or the Dakotas. One of the locations evaluated
as a potential location for the Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma
Network Site, as the case may be, shall be the Fort Harrison Department of
Veterans Affairs hospital in Lewis and Clark County, Montana.
(2)The
report required by this subsection shall include the following:
(A)An assessment of
the adequacy of existing Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in the
northern Rockies and the Dakotas to address matters that are otherwise
addressed by Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers and Polytrauma Network
Sites.
(B)A comparative
assessment of the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs for individuals with
traumatic brain injuries in urban areas with the effectiveness of such programs
for individuals with traumatic brain injuries in rural and frontier
communities.
(C)An assessment
whether the low cost of living in the northern Rockies and the Dakotas could
reduce the financial stress faced by veterans receiving care for traumatic
brain injury and their families and thereby improve the effectiveness of such
care.
(D)An assessment
whether therapies that can prevent or remediate the development of secondary
neurologic conditions related to traumatic brain injury can be interrupted by
stress caused by living in an urban area.
(3)The
Secretary shall consult with appropriate State and local government agencies in
the northern Rockies and the Dakotas in preparing the report required by this
subsection.