38 U.S.C. § 7321A — Committee on Care of Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury

(a) Establishment.— The Secretary^* must establish in the Veterans Health Administration a committee called the “Committee on Care of Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury.” The Under Secretary for Health must appoint Department^* employees with expertise in caring for veterans with traumatic brain injury to serve on the committee. (b) Responsibilities of Committee.— The committee must assess, and continually reassess, the Veterans Health Administration’s ability to effectively meet the treatment and rehabilitation needs of veterans with traumatic brain injury. In carrying out that responsibility, the committee must— (1) evaluate the care provided to those veterans through the Veterans Health Administration; (2) identify systemwide problems in caring for those veterans in Veterans Health Administration facilities; (3) identify specific Veterans Health Administration facilities where program enrichment is needed to improve treatment and rehabilitation of those veterans; and (4) identify model programs that the committee considers successful in treating and rehabilitating those veterans and that should be implemented more widely in or through Veterans Health Administration facilities. (c) Advice and Recommendations.— The committee must— (1) advise the Under Secretary about developing policies for caring for and rehabilitating veterans with traumatic brain injury; and (2) make recommendations to the Under Secretary— (A) for improving programs of care for those veterans at specific facilities and throughout the Veterans Health Administration; (B) for establishing special education and training programs relevant to caring for those veterans for Veterans Health Administration employees; (C) about research needs and priorities relevant to caring for those veterans; and (D) about the appropriate allocation of resources for all those activities. (d) Annual Report.— Not later than June 1, 2010, and each year thereafter, the Secretary must submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a report on implementing this section. Each report must include the following for the calendar year before the year in which the report is submitted: (1) a list of the committee members; (2) the Under Secretary for Health’s assessment, after reviewing the committee’s findings, of the Veterans Health Administration’s ability, systemwide and facility by facility, to effectively meet the treatment and rehabilitation needs of veterans with traumatic brain injury; (3) the committee’s plans for further assessments; (4) the committee’s findings and recommendations to the Under Secretary for Health and the Under Secretary’s views on those findings and recommendations; and (5) a description of the steps taken, plans made—including a timetable for carrying them out—and resources to be applied to improve the Veterans Health Administration’s ability to effectively meet those treatment and rehabilitation needs.