The following letter was sent to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee:
September 16, 2015
United States Senate
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
Washington, D.C. 20510
Subject: Injury Prevention Funding
Dear Senator:
On behalf of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress of
Neurological Surgeons (CNS), we are requesting that you restore and increase funding for the Injury
Prevention Activities (IPA) line-item by $11 million in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Labor, Health and
Human Services and Education Appropriations bill for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (CDC Injury Center).
Unfortunately, the House bill consolidates the Injury Control Research Centers (ICRCs), formerly funded
by their own line item, into the IPA line-item without providing sufficient funds to maintain all activities at
their current funding level. This gap in funding would require that the CDC Injury Center cut currently
funded initiatives by $11 million, decimating CDC’s support for critically needed programs to save lives
from preventable injuries and violence.
The CDC funds ICRCs to conduct research in all three core phases of injury control (prevention, acute
care, and rehabilitation) and serve as training centers as well as information centers for the public.
Research design in these centers is interdisciplinary and incorporates the fields of medicine,
engineering, epidemiology, law, and criminal justice, behavioral and social sciences, biostatistics, public
health, and biomechanics. These programs conducted the first studies linking repeated sports-related
concussion to neurodementia and other mental health disorders. As a result and supported by
neurosurgery, from 2009 to 2013, all 50 states passed laws mandating concussion education in high
school sports and access to medical care for concussed high school athletes.
Preventable injuries exact a heavy burden on Americans through premature deaths and disabilities,
health care costs, rehabilitation costs, disruption of quality of life for families, and disruption of
productivity for employers. Traumatic injuries are the leading cause of death for people ages 1-44 in the
United States and cost the U.S. $406 billion annually, with over $80 billion in medical costs and the
remainder in lost productivity.
Compared to the billions of dollars that injuries will ultimately cost the nation, there is a clear and
substantial discrepancy between current CDC Injury Center funding and the amount needed to fully
address the tremendous burden of injuries and violence in the United States. Programs funded through
the Injury Prevention Activities line are critical to our ability to save lives and prevent lifelong and costly
disabilities.
We look forward to working with you to secure the $11 million required to maintain funding for the
programs funded through the Injury Prevention Activities line-item.
Read full letter here.
