Staten Island

Published on: November 21, 2012

W. Virginia Seeking to Help TBI Victims at Home

by Stephen Bilkis

The state of West Virginia is seeking a federal Medicaid waiver so it can offer a program that will help people with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) remain in their homes, rather than forcing them into nursing homes or other facilities.

Earlier last month, the West Virginia state Supreme Court upheld a County Circuit Court ruling that issued a requirement that the Department of Health and Human Resources had to seek the waiver from the federal entity and that they had to get funding for the program.

A DHHR spokesman told a Lawyer that the program will begin when the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approves the waiver. Though the agency can’t pinpoint when the waiver will be approved, they did say it plans to provide services to 75 people in the first year, 100 in the second year, and 125 at the third year of the program.

Published on: September 20, 2012

U.S. Representative Giffords’ Office Closing Gap in TBI Care

by Stephen Bilkis

Staff members in the employ of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) have become key advocates in the campaign to ensure health-care guarantees for Americans who suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBI). They are advocating that other citizens should be entitled to the same high quality care that the congresswoman is receiving in her recovery from a January shooting.

Last month, Giffords’ chief of staff released a letter urging Health and Human Services to prioritize defining the minimum package of “essential benefits” in the new health-care law that will be required of insurance plans for individuals and small businesses. This new law is expected to be operational by 2014.

Giffords’ Staff members are also planning to join encourage the Defense Secretary to expand the range of “cognitive rehabilitative therapies” that Tricare, the military’s insurance program for active-duty and retired service members, covers in cases of brain injury.

Published on: May 26, 2012

Coalition Developed to Explore TBI Treatment on the Scene of Accidents

by Stephen Bilkis

Approximately 1.4 million Americans will suffer a brain injurythis year. An unprecedented collaboration of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) first responders, state health officials and university researchers will hopefully help save Arizona residents who are among that number who could suffer brain injury in the coming year.

Groundbreaking studies and life-saving developments are melding into a series of pre-hospital treatments for traumatic brain injury (TBI). These treatments, as studies suggest, are to be administered immediately at the scene of the accident.

Arizona Department of Health Services, Arizona fire departments, ambulance companies, Arizona Emergency Medicine Research Center and the University of Medicine, announced their collaboration during an extraction demonstration by Glendale Fire Department.