Let's Make Changes

Problems to address

As I traveled across the country, I consolidated the major concerns patients and facilities have for the recovery of brain injuries

1. Lack of accredited facilities that focus solely on brain injury rehabilitation. Rural states are at a distinct disadvantage to access brain rehab hospitals
2. Lack of adequate time for rehabilitation and recovery for all brain injuries
3. Lack of brain injury certified nurses, case managers, and therapists
4. Brain injury groups and facilities are not coordinating research projects and rehabilitation modules. One facility does not know what others are doing. Families and care-givers are left in the dark and find themselves reinventing the wheel with each brain injury.
5. Congress is slow to act on Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Act, H.R. 4238.
6. The educational process is deficient in informing medical staff and families the definitions of brain injuries.
7. With the media focus on TBI, the public is unaware that each year an unknown number of people suffer hypoxic-anoxic injuries (HAI) of the brain.
8. While the ICD-10 code is specific about the causes of TBI, the code is lax in defining HAI of the brain.
9. Transportation to brain injury facilities is inadequate or non-existent.

Recommendations

1. Develop a plan to establish regional brain injury rehabilitation hospitals.
2. Request that the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services revisit the rules on Medicare regulations regarding length of time allowed for rehabilitation and recovery of persons who suffer a brain injury.
3. Encourage nurses, case managers, and therapists to become brain injury certified
4. Form a study committee of TBI health care experts, affected groups and organizations that have shown an interest in reducing the impact of brain injuries on their business or industry and brain injury patients and their families. This public/private committee should look at reducing the number of brain injuries occurring in the United States and also offer solutions to improving the research, diagnosis and treatment of all brain injuries.
5. Brain injuries cross all levels of society. Ask your Congressional delegation to support reauthorization of the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Act, H.R. 4238. The act requests $37 million dollars for projects. We respectfully request that in this process, a portion of the funds granted be focused on hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) as part of the protocol for hypoxic-anoxic brain injuries.
6. We need an educational process to learn the categories of brain injuries. All non-degenerative brain injuries occurring after birth are acquired brain injuries (ABI).  ABI is inclusive of TBI and non-traumatic brain injuries (hypoxic-anoxic).
7. The CDC (Center of Disease Control) must begin a process to collect data and report HAI brain injuries. Causing the collection of HAI data would significantly increase brain injury awareness and the need for better communication for rehabilitation and recovery of patients who suffer a brain injury.
8. The CDC, the National Institute of Health, and the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force must begin identifying the classification of brain injuries in consistent terminology. Some causes of HAI are easily defined and can be categorized as TBI today.
9. Develop a plan to transport patients to the nearest brain injury rehabilitation facility.