[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 132 (Tuesday, September 16, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H7585-H7587]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
VETERANS TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY CARE IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2014
Mr. LAMBORN. 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.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 4276
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Traumatic Brain
Injury Care Improvement Act of 2014''.
SEC. 2. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF PILOT PROGRAM ON
ASSISTED LIVING SERVICES FOR VETERANS WITH
TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY.
(a) Modification of Report Requirements.--Subsection (e) of
section 1705 of the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110-181; 38 U.S.C. 1710C note)
is amended to read as follows:
``(e) Reports.--
``(1) Quarterly reports.--
``(A) In general.--For each calendar quarter occurring
during the period beginning January 1, 2015, and ending
September 30, 2017, the Secretary shall submit to the
Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the House
of Representatives a report on the pilot program.
``(B) Elements.--Each report submitted under subparagraph
(A) shall include each of the following for the quarter
preceding the quarter during which the report is submitted
the following:
``(i) The number of individuals that participated in the
pilot program.
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``(ii) The number of individuals that successfully
completed the pilot program.
``(iii) The degree to which pilot program participants and
family members of pilot program participants were satisfied
with the pilot program.
``(iv) The interim findings and conclusions of the
Secretary with respect to the success of the pilot program
and recommendations for improvement.
``(2) Final report.--
``(A) In general.--Not later than 60 days after the
completion of the pilot program, the Secretary shall submit
to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the
House of Representatives a final report on the pilot program.
``(B) Elements.--The final report required by subparagraph
(A) shall include the following:
``(i) A description of the pilot program.
``(ii) The Secretary's assessment of the utility of the
activities carried out under the pilot program in enhancing
the rehabilitation, quality of life, and community
reintegration of veterans with traumatic brain injury.
``(iii) An evaluation of the pilot program in light of
independent living programs carried out by the Secretary
under title 38, United States Code, including--
``(I) whether the pilot program duplicates services
provided under such independent living programs;
``(II) the ways in which the pilot program provides
different services that the services provided under such
independent living program;
``(III) how the pilot program could be better defined or
shaped; and
``(IV) whether the pilot program should be incorporated
into such independent living programs.
``(iv) Such recommendations as the Secretary considers
appropriate regarding improving the pilot program.''.
(b) Definition of Community-based Brain Injury Residential
Rehabilitative Care Services.--Such section is further
amended--
(1) in the section heading, by striking ``assisted living''
and inserting ``community-based brain injury residential
rehabilitative care'';
(2) in subsection (c), in the subsection heading, by
striking ``Assisted Living'' and inserting ``Community-Based
Brain Injury Residential Rehabilitative Care'';
(3) by striking ``assisted living'' each place it appears,
and inserting ``community-based brain injury rehabilitative
care''; and
(4) in subsection (f)(1), by striking ``and personal care''
and inserting ``rehabilitation, and personal care''.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section
shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
(d) Prohibition on New Appropriations.--No additional funds
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act and
the amendments made by this Act, and this Act and such
amendments shall be carried out using amounts otherwise
available for such purpose.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Colorado (Mr. Lamborn) and the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs.
Kirkpatrick) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Colorado.
General Leave
Mr. LAMBORN. 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.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Colorado?
There was no objection.
Mr. LAMBORN. 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.
Mrs. KIRKPATRICK. 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. LAMBORN. 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. CASSIDY. 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.
[[Page H7587]]
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.
Mrs. KIRKPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman
from Florida (Ms. Brown).
Ms. BROWN of Florida. 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.
Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, we have no further speakers, and I am
prepared to close. I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. KIRKPATRICK. 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. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I too encourage all Members to support H.R.
4276, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 4276, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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