BIAA Update July 2008-2
Laura Schiebelhut of the BIAA asked me to distribute this legislative update:.gif)
Brain Injury Association of America
Policy Corner E-Newsletter – July 18, 2008
A weekly update on federal policy activity related to traumatic brain injury
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Dear Advocates:
Numerous developments related to brain injury policy and advocacy efforts occurred this week in the nation’s capital.
In a welcome development on Tuesday, Congress successfully overrode the president’s veto of key Medicare legislation (H.R. 6331). The bill, which will now become law, prevents deep cuts in Medicare payment rates to physicians. It also contains important delays in the implementation of Medicare’s competitive bidding program for Durable Medical Equipment (DME), and a critically important extension of the Medicare outpatient therapy cap exceptions process.
Thank you to all of the advocates who responded to BIAA’s Legislative Action Alert last week urging Senators to override a veto by President Bush!!!
Also this week, although appropriations activity remains stalled in the House, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the fiscal 2009 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs spending bill, containing funding for TBI research as well as valuable report language related to TBI care for veterans.
In addition this week, on Thursday BIAA issued a Legislative Action Alert to urge both presidential candidates to attend the 2008 Fort Hood Presidential Town Hall and engage in an in-depth discussion of the increasingly complex issues facing America’s military and veterans community, including the rate of traumatic brain injury among returning service members. BIAA is a member of the 2008 Forth Hood Presidential Town Hall Consortium, and the event is tentatively scheduled to be televised by CBS on August 11, 2008. If you have not already, please take action TODAY by visiting http://capwiz.com/bia/issues/alert/?alertid=11644406.
In other news, on Wednesday, a BIAA representative attended a Capitol Hill briefing, organized by Rep. Bill Pascrell, the founder and co-Chairman of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, on exciting new developments in TBI research. At the briefing, experts from the Cleveland Clinic discussed revolutionary new research efforts in the field of regenerative medicine to develop new treatments and therapies for TBI.
In addition, this week the Army issued new guidelines for TBI care, including a new requirement for all soldiers who experience dizziness or loss of consciousness from a blast, fall, collision or other direct impact incident to receive immediate medical assistance. These new guidelines can be accessed online at http://www.pdhealth.mil/TBI.asp.
*Distributed by Laura Schiebelhut, BIAA Director of Government Affairs, on behalf of the Brain Injury Association of America; 703-761-0750 ext. 637; lschiebelhut@biausa.org
BIAA’s Policy Corner and Legislative Action Alerts are made possible by the Centre for Neuro Skills, James F. Humphreys & Associates, and Lakeview Healthcare Systems, Inc. The Brain Injury Association of America gratefully acknowledges their support for legislative action.
