Description:
H.R. 1162 would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a one-year pilot program to use Magnetic eResonance Therapy technology (MeRT technology) to treat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, chronic pain, and opiate addiction. MeRT technology, a neurological treatment, was pioneered by the Brain Treatment Center (BTC) in Southern California, which holds proprietary rights in the treatment. Over the past two years, the center has treated more than 400 veterans at four locations in California and Washington.
Under the bill, VA would carry out the one-year pilot program with no more than 50 veterans in up to two medical facilities. We anticipate that VA would contract with BTC to offer the MeRT technology to veterans. On the basis of information from BTC, CBO expects the average patient at VA would undergo an initial assessment at a cost of $1,000 and at least 20 MeRT sessions over a one-month span at a cost of $22,000. In total, CBO estimates that implementing this bill would cost $1 million over the 2018-2022 period; that spending would be subject to the availability of appropriations.
Enacting the legislation would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 1162 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
