Senate Committee Approves Four Bills Related To Health Care For Veterans

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Mental Health;  Pain / Anesthetics
Article Date: 16 Nov 2007 - 9:00 PDT

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The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee on Wednesday by voice vote approved four bills aimed at improving health care services for veterans, CongressDaily reports (Talbott, CongressDaily, 11/15).

One bill (S 2162) would establish six "centers of excellence" for post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse treatment and would establish protocols for the treatment of mental illnesses.

A second bill (S 2142) would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to reimburse some veterans for emergency care they receive at non-VA facilities. Veterans covered under the bill would include those receiving treatment for injuries related to their military service, all veterans with total service-related disability and those receiving vocational rehabilitation and participating in training programs.

Another bill (S 2160) would require all VA facilities to have a pain management initiative, under which patient pain would be assessed during an initial appointment and tracked during future appointments.

The final bill (S 2004) would designate at least six VA facilities as centers of excellence for epilepsy treatment (Yoest, CQ Today, 11/14).

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