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Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kan. and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine have reintroduced a bill that would have the VA partner with the National Academies of Sciences to conduct a study on how brain injuries affect Veterans’ mental health.
Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Jerry Moran said that The Precision Brain Health Research Act is a step toward providing evidence-based health care and benefits that Veterans deserve which “will help us better understand why and how blast injuries are impacting Veterans’ mental health and make certain VA is able to quickly incorporate these findings into care for Veterans.”
About The Precision Brain Health Research Act
The bill calls for an in-depth, 10-year study on the effects of repetitive low-level blast injuries. According to the bill text, the study would need to research the following:
Treatments “illustrating positive outcomes for patients within the health system of the Veterans Health Administration with likely low-level repetitive blast injuries.”
How to improve the diagnosis and care of Veterans with likely low-level repetitive blast injuries.
If growth hormone replacement therapy improves “cognitive function, quality of life, brain structure and other negative symptoms” for Veterans with blast injuries.
In addition, the bill would allocate $5 million annually in funding for the study and create a data-sharing partnership between the VA and the Pentagon. Several Veterans groups have endorsed the bill, including the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars and Wounded Warrior Project.
