VA, Indiana University to Study Telehealth Impact on Brain Injuries

Studying the effectiveness of telehealth for treating veterans with mild traumatic brain injuries is the impetus behind a five-year, $920,000 grant given to an Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine professor by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the school announced this week.

The system will focus on self-management of such injuries, according to Jacob Kean, who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation at IU and tasked with its development. Kean, according to the announcement, likened mild brain injuries to chronic conditions in that the victims "experience life-long consequences."

The professor said that initial efforts will focus on creating an "adaptive algorithm" by gathering data from interviews with self-management and brain injury experts, as well as veterans themselves. Patients then will test the algorithm to determine their self-management skill level...