Report faults Virginia on brain injury care
http://www.burgsimpson.com/brain.htmlTens of thousands of people in Virginia with traumatic brain injuries lack adequate residential facilities, access to therapy, transportation or occupational help. In a recent report, researchers warned that the state's overwhelmed care system likely will be further stressed by returning war veterans whose primary injuries are traumatic-brain injuries. The state has no clear idea how many people with traumatic-brain injuries are in the state and lacks a plan to deal with returning veterans. The only facility in the state that accepts Medicaid payments for specialized residential care for traumatic-brain injuries stopped accepting patients this month and is phasing out its 20-bed unit in Virginia Beach. About $5.3 million is set aside in the state budget for traumatic-brain injury patients, most of it for case management and daylong clubhouse programs at six facilities across the state. The traumatic-brain injury population receives what would average out to about $15 per person per year in state money, while funds for mentally retarded people work out to be more than $1,000 each. Reporting requirements have not been followed, but estimates are that 82,000 people have been injured since 2002, almost half of them in falls. Another deluge of victims will come in the form of veterans returning from the wars. Researchers said they will begin seeking state and community services after their initial care at Veterans Affairs facilities. Between January 2003 and February 2005, 59 percent of the patients admitted to Walter Reed Army Medical Center were diagnosed with a traumatic-brain injury.
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