H.R. 1336 — Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act.”

This section establishes a three-year pilot program under which the Secretary of Veterans Affairs furnishes hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to veterans with traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder through eligible non-Department providers. The Secretary must operate the program in two Veterans Integrated Service Networks and ensure that any participating medical facility holds accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospital Organizations, the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, or a comparable organization. Funding is provided solely through private donations deposited into a new VA HBOT Fund, which is available without fiscal year limitation and terminates with the pilot program. HBOT is defined as therapy delivered by a medical device approved by the Food and Drug Administration or issued an investigational device exemption by the agency.

This section requires the Comptroller General to submit to the House and Senate Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, not later than one year after enactment, an update to the 2016 GAO report titled “Research on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to Treat Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” (GAO-16-154). The updated report must assess clinical trials on the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder that have been conducted since the original report by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and private entities.