II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 666 

To require a report on the establishment of a Polytrauma Rehabilitation 

Center or Polytrauma Network Site of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs in the northern Rockies or Dakotas, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 29, 2011 

Mr. BAUCUS (for himself, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. CONRAD, and 

Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require a report on the establishment of a Polytrauma 

Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site of 

the Department of Veterans Affairs in the northern 

Rockies or Dakotas, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Traumatic 

5 Brain Injury Care Improvement Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REPORT ON ESTABLISHMENT OF A POLYTRAUMA 

2 REHABILITATION CENTER OR POLYTRAUMA 

3 NETWORK SITE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 

4 VETERANS AFFAIRS IN THE NORTHERN 

5 ROCKIES OR DAKOTAS. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find7 ings: 

8 (1) The States of the northern Rockies and the 

9 Dakotas are among those States in the United 

10 States with the highest per capita rates of veterans 

11 with injuries from military service in Iraq and Af12 ghanistan. 

13 (2) Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has become 

14 known as one of the ‘‘signature wounds’’ of military 

15 service in Iraq and Afghanistan due to its high oc16 currence among veterans of such service. 

17 (3) A recent RAND Corporation study esti18 mates that as many as 20 percent of the veterans 

19 of military service in Iraq and Afghanistan have a 

20 traumatic brain injury as a result of such service, 

21 and many of these veterans require ongoing care for 

22 mild, moderate, or severe traumatic brain injury. 

23 (4) The Department of Veterans Affairs rec24 ommends that all veterans experiencing a 

25 polytraumatic injury be referred to a Polytrauma 

26 Rehabilitation Center or a Polytrauma Network Site. 


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1 (5) The Department of Veterans Affairs 

2 Polytrauma System of Care includes 4 Polytrauma 

3 Rehabilitation Centers and 22 Polytrauma Network 

4 Sites, none of which are located in North Dakota, 

5 South Dakota, Idaho, Montana, eastern Washington, 

6 or Wyoming, an area that encompasses approxi7 mately 740,000 square miles. 

8 (6) The vastness of this area imposes signifi9 cant hardships on veterans residing in this area who 

10 require care within the Department of Veterans Af11 fairs Polytrauma System of Care and wish to live 

12 close to home while receiving care within such sys13 tem of care. 

14 (b) REPORT.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

16 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec17 retary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress 

18 a report on the feasibility and advisability of estab19 lishing a Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or 

20 Polytrauma Network Site for the Department of 

21 Veterans Affairs in the northern Rockies or the Da22 kotas. One of the locations evaluated as a potential 

23 location for the Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or 

24 Polytrauma Network Site, as the case may be, shall 


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1 be the Fort Harrison Department of Veterans Af2 fairs hospital in Lewis and Clark County, Montana. 

3 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The report required by 

4 this subsection shall include the following: 

5 (A) An assessment of the adequacy of ex6 isting Department of Veterans Affairs facilities 

7 in the northern Rockies and the Dakotas to ad8 dress matters that are otherwise addressed by 

9 Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers and 

10 Polytrauma Network Sites. 

11 (B) A comparative assessment of the effec12 tiveness of rehabilitation programs for individ13 uals with traumatic brain injuries in urban 

14 areas with the effectiveness of such programs 

15 for individuals with traumatic brain injuries in 

16 rural and frontier communities. 

17 (C) An assessment whether the low cost of 

18 living in the northern Rockies and the Dakotas 

19 could reduce the financial stress faced by vet20 erans receiving care for traumatic brain injury 

21 and their families and thereby improve the ef22 fectiveness of such care. 

23 (D) An assessment whether therapies that 

24 can prevent or remediate the development of 

25 secondary neurologic conditions related to trauVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:58 Mar 29, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S666.IS S666

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1 matic brain injury can be interrupted by stress 

2 caused by living in an urban area. 

3 (3) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall con4 sult with appropriate State and local government 

5 agencies in the northern Rockies and the Dakotas in 

6 preparing the report required by this subsection. 

Æ 


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