[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 134 (Thursday, July 12, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32337-32338]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-14936]
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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Creating Options for Veterans Expedited Recovery (COVER)
Commission; Notice of Meeting
In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Creating
Options for Veterans Expedited Recover (COVER) Commission gives notice
that the first meeting will be held on July 24 and July 25, 2018 at the
Capital Hilton, 1001 16th Street NW, Washington, DC. The meeting will
convene at 8:00 a.m. and adjourn at 5:00 p.m. EST on July 24 and July
25. The meeting will be partially closed to the public on July 24, 2018
and July 25, 2018. In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(2) and (6),
which exempt a meeting from the requirement to be open to the public,
the meeting will be closed on July 24 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
because it is likely to ``relate solely to the internal personnel rules
and practices of an agency'' or ``disclose . . . information of a
personal nature where disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy.'' On July 25, the meeting will be closed
from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. under section 552b(c)(9)(B) because it
would reveal information the disclosure of which would, ``in the case
of an agency, be likely to significantly frustrate implementation of a
proposed agency action.'' This closed session will include discussion
of ground rules, decision making protocol, and strategy to establish
ground rules. Any precipitous release of those discussions through an
open session will frustrate program implementation, to the detriment of
our Veterans who we consider our greatest customer/benefactor of the
commission.
Open sessions will be held on both days in Capital Hilton's South
American AB room. The open session on Day 1 will focus current VHA
Whole Health Practices, VA's Mental Health Services and Resources. The
open session Day 2 will include review and discussion of the objectives
of the Commission as described in the Comprehensive Addiction and
Recovery Act (CARA) of 2016. A listening line will be available to the
public who prefer to call in rather than attend the open sessions at
the Capital Hilton. This listening line number will be activated 10
minutes before each of the two open sessions. The listening line number
is 800-767-1750; access code 48664#.
The purpose of the COVER Commission is to examine the evidence-
based therapy treatment model used by the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) for treating mental health conditions of Veterans and the
potential benefits of incorporating complementary and integrative
health approaches as standard practice throughout the Department. The
Commission will: (1) Examine the efficacy of the evidence-based therapy
model used by VA to treat mental health illnesses and identify areas of
improvement; (2) conduct a patient-centered survey within each VISN to
examine: The experiences of veterans with VA facilities regarding
mental health care, the experiences of veterans with non-VA facilities
regarding mental health care, the preferences of veterans regarding
available treatment for mental health issues and which methods the
veterans believe to be most effective, the experience, if any, of
veterans with respect to complementary and integrative health
approaches, the prevalence of prescribing medication to veterans
seeking treatment for mental health disorders through VA, and the
outreach efforts of VA regarding the availability of benefits and
treatments for veterans for addressing mental health issues; (3)
examine available research on complementary and integrative health
approaches for mental health disorders in areas of therapy including:
Music therapy, equine therapy, training and caring for service dogs,
yoga therapy, acupuncture therapy, meditation therapy, outdoor sports
therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, accelerated resolution therapy, art
therapy, magnetic resonance therapy,
[[Page 32338]]
and others; (4) study the sufficiency of VA resources to deliver
quality mental health care; and (5) study the current treatments and
resources available within VA and assess: The effectiveness of such
treatments and resources in decreasing the number of suicides per day
by veterans, the number of veterans who have been diagnosed with mental
health issues, the percentage of veterans who have completed VA
counseling sessions, and the efforts of VA to expand complementary and
integrative health treatments viable to the recovery of veterans with
mental health issues as determined by the Secretary to improve the
effectiveness of treatments offered by VA.
Any member of the public seeking additional information should
email COVER [email protected]. The Designated Federal Officer for the
Commission is Ms. Sheila B. Hickman. Ms. Hickman and the staff will be
monitoring and responding to questions or comments sent to this email
box. The Committee will also accept written comments which may be sent
to the same email box. In the public's communications with the
Committee, the writers must identify themselves and state the
organizations, associations, or persons they represent.
Dated: July 9, 2018.
Jelessa M. Burney,
Federal Advisory Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. 2018-14936 Filed 7-11-18; 8:45 am]
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