The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) There is a large population of persons who have suffered traumatic brain injuries resulting in significant functional impairment. The annual number of brain injuries is greater than the rates of breast cancer, heart attack, lung cancer, HIV and AIDS, spinal cord injuries, and multiple sclerosis combined.
(b) Roughly 28 percent of all brain injuries are due to a fall, and 20 percent are due to motor vehicle accidents. Those injuries attributable to motor vehicle accidents, however, account for the greatest number of hospitalizations.
(c) There is a lack of awareness of the problems associated with brain injury as a chronic health condition resulting in a significant absence of community reintegration services for persons with brain injuries, including, but not limited to, in-home and out-of-home services, respite care, placement programs, counseling, cognitive rehabilitation, transitional living, and vocational rehabilitation services.
(d) Although there are currently a number of different programs attempting to meet the needs of the persons with brain injuries in the field of community reintegration, there is no clearly defined ultimate responsibility vested in any single state agency. This section does not mandate services for persons with acquired traumatic brain injury through county and city programs.
(e) While formal standards of care exist for both medical and rehabilitative models within the system of brain injury care, the same cannot be said with regard to community reintegration services. Currently, there is no programmatic coordination among agencies to facilitate the provision of a continuing range of services appropriate for persons with traumatic brain injuries.
(f) There is a serious gap in postacute care services for the life of the brain injury survivor, resulting in incomplete recovery of functional potential.
(g) Due to the problems referred to in this section, the state is not adequately meeting the needs of persons with brain injuries by enabling them to return to work and to lead productive lives.
(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 402, Sec. 1. (SB 398) Effective January 1, 2019.)