I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1947
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Defense
to furnish stellate ganglion block to veterans and members of the Armed
Forces with post-traumatic stress disorder, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH6, 2025
Mr. P
ERRY(for himself, Mr. OGLES, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. CREN-
SHAW, Mr. MCCORMICK, Mr. FITZPATRICK, and Mr. VALADAO) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed
Services, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary
of Defense to furnish stellate ganglion block to veterans
and members of the Armed Forces with post-traumatic
stress disorder, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Treatment and Relief 4
through Emerging and Accessible Therapy for PTSD Act’’ 5
or the ‘‘TREAT PTSD Act’’. 6
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•HR 1947 IH
SEC. 2. PROVISION OF STELLATE GANGLION BLOCK TO 1
VETERANS AND MEMBERS OF THE ARMED 2
FORCES WITH POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DIS-3
ORDER. 4
(a) P
ROVISION TOVETERANS.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 17 6
of title 38, United States Code, is amended by add-7
ing at the end the following new section: 8
‘‘§ 1720M. Provision of stellate ganglion block for cer-9
tain veterans 10
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall furnish stel-11
late ganglion block to any veteran who— 12
‘‘(1) is enrolled in the patient enrollment sys-13
tem under section 1705 of this title; 14
‘‘(2) has been diagnosed with post-traumatic 15
stress disorder; and 16
‘‘(3) has elected to receive stellate ganglion 17
block after being informed by a qualified health care 18
provider of the risks and benefits of stellate ganglion 19
block. 20
‘‘(b) P
ROVISION OFCARE.—The Secretary may fur-21
nish stellate ganglion block under subsection (a) through 22
a medical facility of the Department or through a health 23
care provider specified in section 1703(c) of this title.’’. 24
(2) C
LERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of con-25
tents at the beginning of chapter 17 of title 38, 26
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•HR 1947 IH
United States Code, is amended by inserting after 1
the item relating to section 1720L the following new 2
item: 3
‘‘1720M. Provision of stellate ganglion block for certain veterans.’’.
(b) PROVISION TO MEMBERS OF THE ARMED 4
F
ORCES.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Chapter 55 of title 10, 6
United States Code, is amended by inserting after 7
section 1074o the following new section: 8
‘‘§ 1074p. Provision of stellate ganglion block for cer-9
tain members 10
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall furnish stel-11
late ganglion block to any member of the Armed Forces 12
(including the reserve components) who is performing or 13
has performed active service and who— 14
‘‘(1) is enrolled in the TRICARE program 15
under chapter 55 of this title; 16
‘‘(2) has been diagnosed with post-traumatic 17
stress disorder; and 18
‘‘(3) has elected to receive stellate ganglion 19
block after being informed by a qualified health care 20
provider of the risks and benefits of stellate ganglion 21
block. 22
‘‘(b) P
ROVISION OFCARE.—The Secretary may fur-23
nish stellate ganglion block under subsection (a) through 24
a medical facility of the Department or through a qualified 25
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•HR 1947 IH
health care provider participating in a Department admin-1
istered TRICARE health insurance program.’’. 2
(2) C
LERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of con-3
tents at the beginning of chapter 55 of title 10, 4
United States Code, is amended by inserting after 5
the item relating to section 1074o the following new 6
item: 7
‘‘1074p. Provision of stellate ganglion block for certain members.’’.
(c) UPDATE OFJOINTCLINICALPRACTICEGUIDE-8
LINE.— 9
(1) U
PDATE OF GUIDELINE .—Not later than 10
180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 11
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary 12
of Defense shall update the guideline published 13
jointly by the Secretaries and titled the ‘‘VA/DOD 14
Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) for the Manage-15
ment of PTSD’’ (or such successor guideline) to en-16
sure the guideline— 17
(A) reflects the availability of stellate gan-18
glion block as a therapy option; and 19
(B) includes information on the clinical in-20
dicators and contraindicators for such therapy 21
option. 22
(2) N
OTIFICATION.—Upon updating the guide-23
line under paragraph (1), the Secretaries shall notify 24
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•HR 1947 IH
the appropriate congressional committees of such 1
update. 2
(3) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -3
TEES DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘ap-4
propriate congressional committees’’ means— 5
(A) the congressional defense committees 6
(as such term is defined in section 101 of title 7
10, United States Code); and 8
(B) the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of 9
the House of Representatives and the Senate. 10
(d) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 11
subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect on the date that 12
is 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 13
Æ
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