S. 2737 — Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act

This section establishes a pilot program under which the Secretary of Veterans Affairs furnishes hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT)—using a medical device approved by or under investigational device exemption from the Food and Drug Administration—to veterans with traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder through community care providers (i.e., those described in 38 U.S.C. 1703(c)(5)) in two Veterans Integrated Service Networks. The Secretary must ensure HBOT facilities are accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospital Organizations, the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, or an equivalent organization; funds the program solely through donations to a dedicated VA HBOT Fund in the Treasury (available without fiscal year limitation); and terminates the program and fund three years after enactment.

This section directs the Comptroller General of the United States to submit to the Senate and House Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, an update to the December 18, 2015, GAO report titled “Research on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to Treat Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” (GAO–16–154). The update must assess clinical trials conducted since that report on the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder by (1) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, (2) the Secretary of Defense, and (3) private entities.