RD603 - Annual Report of the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) Brain Injury & Spinal Cord Injury Services For State Fiscal Year 2015-16 (July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016)


Executive Summary:
In 1989, the Department of Rehabilitative Services was designated in the Code of Virginia as the “lead agency to coordinate services” for individuals with physical and sensory disabilities, including people with traumatic brain injury. The General Assembly also appropriated the initial allocation of funding specifically designated for brain injury services in 1989: $235,000 to Fairfax County for the development of a nonprofit organization to provide a continuum of state-contracted brain injury services in Northern Virginia (primarily case management). This resulted in the establishment of Head Injury Services Partnership (HISP), a nonprofit in Springfield, VA now called Brain Injury Services, Inc. DARS established the Brain Injury Services Coordination (BISC) Unit, which manages the agency’s specialized brain injury programs, services, and grants / contracts, in 1992, along with a full-time statewide brain injury coordinator position.

When the 2004 General Assembly appropriated new funding for brain injury services for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2005 and 2006 in Item 327.4 of the Appropriations Act, it also directed that

“…the Department of Rehabilitative Services shall submit an annual report to the Chairmen of the Senate Finance and House Appropriations Committees documenting the number of individuals served, services provided, and success in attracting non-state resources.”

The information contained herein constitutes the 2016 Annual Report of State-Funded Brain Injury Services Programs from the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) to the Chairmen of the Senate Finance and House Appropriations Committees. The State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2016 allocation of state general funding for the statewide network of DARS-contracted Brain Injury Services (BIS) Programs was $4,776,342, and provided direct services to approximately 4,270 individuals. The nine (9) organizations that contract with the Commonwealth of Virginia to operate 13 community-based programs for Virginians with brain injury brought in $2.5 million in non-state resources, including cash and donated goods/services.

The brain injury advocacy community successfully garnered $750,000 in new funding for SFY 2016 (and a restoration of a FY ’15 reduction). The new funding was allocated among three of DARS’ BISC Unit’s programs: Personal Assistance Services for People with Brain Injury (PAS/BI) program ($30,000 to $107,639); the Brain Injury Direct Services (BIDS) Fund ($19,657 to $175,000); and the balance was allocated to the statewide network of contracted Brain Injury Services (BIS) Programs ($700,343 to $4,878,112) to facilitate expansion of core brain injury services, as well as enhance infrastructure.