[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 11258]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2014

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I have introduced legislation to 
reauthorize the Traumatic Brain Injury Act. It is my pleasure to be 
joined in this effort by my colleague and fellow member of the Senate 
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Senator Bob Casey, Jr.
  Brain injuries are among the most frequent reasons for visits to 
physicians and emergency rooms, and contribute to about thirty percent 
of all injury deaths. A critical health issue for military personnel, 
TBI has also become a signature wound of war. According to a Defense 
and Veterans Brain Injury Center, DVBIC, analysis of surveillance data 
released by the Department of Defense, DoD, 33,149 U.S. military 
personnel were diagnosed with a TBI in 2011 alone.
  People who survive a TBI can face observable effects lasting just a 
few days, or serious lifelong disability. A survivor of a severe brain 
injury typically faces five to 10 years of intensive services and 
estimated lifetime costs in the millions. TBI affects not only the 
person living with TBI, but also the family and community of which the 
individual is a part. Families are the primary caregivers for a person 
with brain injury.
  The Traumatic Brain Injury Act is the only Federal legislation that 
specifically addresses issues faced by the millions of American 
children and adults who live with a long-term disability as a result of 
TBI. I first introduced the TBI Act with the late Senator Ted Kennedy 
nearly 20 years ago. The TBI Act of 1996 launched an effort to conduct 
expanded studies and to establish innovative programs for TBI.
  Three agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, 
HHS, administer the TBI program: the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, CDC, carries out projects relate to prevention, 
surveillance, and education about TBI; the National Institutes of 
Health, NIH, funds basic and applied research; and the Health Resources 
and Services Administration, HRSA, assists states in improving access 
to health and other services, including protection and advocacy 
services. The TBI Reauthorization Act of 2014 will continue these vital 
supports for an extremely vulnerable population. This bill also 
continues to encourage interagency coordination and requires HHS to 
develop a coordination plan for all Federal activities with respect to 
TBI.
  According to the CDC, in 2009, nearly a quarter of a million children 
age 19 or younger were treated in emergency departments for sports and 
recreation-related injuries that included a diagnosis of concussion or 
TBI. This legislation also requires the review of scientific evidence 
regarding brain injury management in children and adolescents, 
including current and promising additional research.
  The TBI program offers balanced and coordinated public policy in 
brain injury prevention, research, education, and community-based 
services and supports for individuals living with traumatic brain 
injury and their families and I ask my colleagues' support for the 
Traumatic Brain Injury Act of 2014.

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